


Kutêŕasa

by Welcome_to_Latveria



Series: Quicksilver Week 2020 [2]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel, Marvel 616
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, M/M, Slow Burn, this is a lot. like it goes thru Pietro's whole life basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24946672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welcome_to_Latveria/pseuds/Welcome_to_Latveria
Summary: The only thing the twins have which is uniquely theirs is the names of their soulmates.Wanda has the name Jean Grey in flowery script on her wrist along with some sort of bird the colour of fire which is visible behind the name. It is thoroughly unfair – in Pietro’s opinion – because Wanda’s is extraordinarily pretty, and he is maybe slightly jealous of it.In comparison, his seems very boring. A name in black curling script on his wrist with no other colouring or marking.Victor Von Doom.
Relationships: Crystal Amaquelin/Pietro Maximoff, Jean Grey/Wanda Maximoff, Luna Maximoff & Pietro Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff & Kristoff Vernard, Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff/Victor von Doom
Series: Quicksilver Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804165
Comments: 18
Kudos: 29





	Kutêŕasa

**Author's Note:**

> I totally got carried away w/ this and now it's 50k so good luck w/ that. This was written for Quicksilver Week over on Tumblr for Day 4 - Romance.
> 
> The title is a Romani word I came across when looking at the Kalderaš Romani dialect on ROMLEX which is translated as meaning 1. villain 2. lover and the accuracy of that for this fic made me laugh. There r some other Romani words used in this fic all from ROMLEX but they're translated in the story so i won't list them here.
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> \- non-graphic suicide attempt that isn't really referred to as suicide in the story but it's obvious that's what that is. If you've read Son of M then u know when this happens but if you haven't it's when Pietro is talking to Spiderman 
> 
> \- brief mention of self-harm literally only one line and not in reference to any of the main characters. Happens when Pietro and Luna meet Callisto.

Pietro and Wanda share everything as children – partly because they are twins and delight in sharing things (when they are not arguing, of course) and partly because their parents do not have enough necessities for two children.

They share clothes, and toys and shoes. They share songs, and stories and dreams. They even share their first words; each other’s names.

The only thing the twins have which is uniquely _theirs_ is the names of their soulmates.

Wanda has the name _Jean Grey_ in flowery script on her wrist along with some sort of bird the colour of fire which is visible behind the name. It is thoroughly unfair – in Pietro’s opinion – because Wanda’s is extraordinarily pretty, and he is maybe _slightly_ jealous of it.

In comparison, his seems very boring. A name in black curling script on his wrist with no other colouring or marking.

 _Victor Von Doom_.

***

His parents tell him that he already had his name when he was born – they say that this means his soulmate is older than him. They say this factually and do not seem to see it as either a good or a bad thing. Pietro thinks it is a good thing – at least he will not have to sit around waiting for it to appear; he despises waiting.

Marya and Django seem more concerned about the actual _name_.

“It sounds German,” his mother says one night.

His father makes a face. “Hopefully not.”

Pietro doesn’t understand what either of his parents mean by this – he is young and the concept of belonging to anything other than their group of Roma is bewildering to him.

“It sounds European, at least,” Marya says thoughtfully. “Our baby won’t be going too far away from us.” She says this with a wide smile at him, sitting at her feet. She brushes her hands through his hair – he loves it when she does that.

“Hmm,” his father grunts. “Europeans hate us – we better hope that he is Rom.”

His mother agrees that that would be best.

Again, Pietro doesn’t really understand what this means – though he knows that to be Rom is to be one of _them_ , and the idea of his soulmate living together with his family brings a warmth to his heart.

***

When he is slightly older, he realises that the other Rom find him _odd_.

It is not something he noticed when he was younger, but he notices it now. They love Wanda, of course. But they whisper when he goes by, and cast looks at his hair which his mother says is the colour of silver.

He tries to fit in – he learns to play their instruments, to sing their songs and to dance their dances. He even _enjoys_ doing these things – he smiles when he dances with his sister or when he sings at night with the others. But they never smile back.

Only Wanda ever smiles back. Marya and Django smile too, but it is subdued.

 _I am trying_ , he thinks desperately, _I am trying to be like them_ … _I want to be like them, but they won’t let me_.

Are he and Wanda so different from each other? Why do they accept his sister so easily but not him?

“You _do_ look different,” Wanda tells him once – when he asks her such a question. She doesn’t say it meanly, just truthfully. “Your hair obviously, and your skin is paler, too.”

 _Is it really_? He never really noticed before, but he supposes it is. All the other Rom have darker skin than his, and dark hair and eyes. He must stand out with his silver hair, paler skin and blue eyes. _I probably remind them of the people in town who hate us_ , he thinks.

He wanted his soulmate to be Rom too, but now he doubts that. What if they think he is weird too? He mentions this worry to his mother:

“Don’t be silly, Pietro – our soulmate accepts us whoever we are,” she says, smiling. “And your hair is much more charming than you seem to think – it is _unique_.”

 _But if soulmates accept us whoever we are_ , he thinks, _then why did you worry that mine was not one of us?_ He doesn’t say this, though. He just nods and smiles.

***

One night he hears his parents talking.

“Did you see the way the lad danced tonight, Marya?” his father asks. “I tell you; the lad is the living spirit of Mateo!”

 _Who is Mateo_?

He creeps closer to hear his mother’s response.

She sounds tired. “But he is _not_ Mateo, Django. He is not even _Rom_.”

Pietro stumbles backward in confusion. How could his mother _say_ that? She knows how hard he tries to fit in! She knows how much of an outsider he feels!

“The time is coming when we will have to tell the children the _truth_ ,” Marya continues.

His father waves her off. “As far as I’m concerned, Pietro and Wanda are _our_ children.”

This time he is sure that his heart stops. His father cannot mean to say that he and Marya are not his and Wanda’s true parents?

Except that’s exactly what he means. And really, it makes sense.

A horrifying thought creeps up on him:

_What if Wanda is not really my sister? Not even my twin?_

If that were true… he would truly be alone in this world.

 _That’s not true_ , another part of him says, _you would still have your soulmate_.

***

When he confronts Marya and Django about what he heard, they tell him the truth. That he and Wanda _are_ really twins but that they are not their true parents – that a strange man came down from Wundagore Mountain and charged them with keeping them safe. Because Marya and Django had had a pair of twins before, who died: Ana and Mateo. So, the man knew they would cherish Pietro and Wanda as their own children.

He is full of questions – was the man who brought them to Marya and Django his real father? What about his real mother? Does he get his colouring from one of his real parents? He must do – and that thought excites him, that there must be someone out there who looks like him.

Of course, Marya and Django do not know any of these answers and cannot tell them where they really came from. But they tell him and Wanda that they love them, and that is enough.

***

That same night, their camp is attacked.

Men and women from the village pour in with weapons and torches and _hatred_. They scream and shout and hit and _kill_.

He sees a man about to attack Wanda.

His mind goes blank with rage and he moves to reach her – she is across the camp from him – but suddenly it doesn’t matter because he’s already _there_. He blinks in confusion.

How did he –

It doesn’t matter. He needs to protect Wanda.

Pietro punches the man who would attack his sister, and scoops Wanda up in his arms. He moves to run away –

A burst of speed and they end up across the whole camp.

“Pietro…” Wanda says, amazed. “How did you _do_ that?”

He has no idea.

“Wanda,” he says, looking around, “Where are our parents?”

All he can see is fire. All he can hear is screams. All he can think to do is _run_.

***

If it wasn’t enough to _look_ different, he has to _be_ different, too.

He and Wanda are _gifted_ – they have special abilities. Pietro is as swift as the wind and Wanda as mystic as a witch.

Wanda calls what she can do _hexes_ – they make things happen, whatever she wants. Except she is not very good at controlling them. Sometimes they happen when she so much as moves her hands a certain way or says a phrase in a particular tone.

As a result, one day when they are wandering Europe, Wanda causes a house to burst into flames.

They are chased by the townsfolk – the same way they were when his parents died. They have pitchforks and torches and they spit curses out at Wanda. They call her a _witch_ and they say it the same way people used to spit the word _gypsy_ at them.

He tries to protect her but the two of them are simply overwhelmed.

Then an avenging angel comes down from the sky to save them.

“My name is Magneto,” he announces to all present, but directed at Pietro and Wanda especially, “And I have come to offer you the world.”

***

The man called Magneto explains to them what they are. Mutants. It sounds like an ugly word, but Magneto does not mean it that way.

“To be a mutant,” he explains to them both. “Is to be hated for who you are – for how you were born. They envy our gifts and seek to ruin us.”

He and Wanda are not even adults yet – just seventeen – but Magneto recruits them into his _Brotherhood_.

He says they are fighting for the rights of mutants across the world. But his methods are violent and despicable. He is a harsh and unforgiving man. He is a killer.

But he saved their lives. They owe him. And so they cannot leave.

Magneto is right about one thing, though – the humans _do_ hate mutants.

 _My soulmate must be a mutant,_ he thinks to himself at night, _they must be. They cannot be a human otherwise they would hate me. And they cannot hate me, because I am their soulmate._

See in his head, he has it all worked out.

Funnily enough, Magneto is the first one outside of his family to ask him about his soulmate ~~(it’s funny because Magneto was his family the whole time)~~. He isn’t sure why the man asks – perhaps he is just curious.

And because Pietro is just seventeen and he is still optimistic – because he is still stupid and because he does not know any better, he tells him.

He pulls up the sleeve of his costume and angles his arm so that Magneto can read the crisp script of his soulmate’s name.

The look on Magneto’s face is unforgettable.

First he seems shocked, then alarmed and then perhaps oddest of all, he just seems _sad_.

“Oh, child,” the man says softly. “I am so sorry.”

At first he thinks that the name must suddenly have faded colour – that his soulmate is dead. But when he looks down to check, it is exactly as it always is: _Victor Von Doom_ in stark black ink against his skin.

“What’s wrong?” He asks Magneto, because he is naïve and confused.

The man hesitates but takes him to the area of their base where Magneto often spends time pouring over newspapers. Pietro stands awkwardly whilst the man digs through a box. Finally Magneto produces a newspaper and passes it to him.

“I suggest you read this,” the man says, and leaves the room.

Pietro sits down and spreads the newspaper across the table.

The front page has a picture of the Fantastic Four’s recent battle with Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four are a family of superheroes in America. They have powers but Magneto tells them they are not mutants and that their powers came from some accident in space. Doctor Doom is a villain that frequently bothers the Fantastic Four for whatever reason – he has avoided arrest in America because he has diplomatic immunity as he is actually the ruler of a small Eastern European country called Latveria. These are all things Magneto has told them before, things he already knows.

What he didn’t know – but what Magneto clearly did – is the bit of information highlighted in the article under the picture.

 _Doctor Doom; Victor Von Doom_.

 _Oh_ , he thinks numbly – staring at the page, _my soulmate is a supervillain_.

***

Because he is Pietro, the first thing he does with this bit of information is share it with his sister.

Wanda pores over the article with him. “Well… he clearly has an issue with the Fantastic Four,” she says. “Maybe they did something to him? Maybe this is just some sort of revenge?”

He had not considered that, but it is unsurprising that Wanda would think of such an idea straight away – she is much more level-headed than he is, and much kinder.

The longer the two of them spend with Magneto, the easier it is to believe that Doctor Doom is a villain purely because he is enacting a revenge of some sort on the Fantastic Four. The man only ever bothers with them, after all – he has never come into conflict with Magneto or the X-Men or the Avengers.

And frankly, the longer they spend with Magneto, the more he can understand the need for revenge.

On one occasion, he disarms a bomb that their leader was going to use to kill thousands of innocent people. Magneto is furious with him for this, of course, and decides to lock him in a small prison-like room overnight.

It is one of the worst moments in his life.

Pietro needs room to breathe and to _run_. He needs to be with his sister. He needs to be with Wanda. _Please,_ he begs, _I can’t be alone. Don’t leave me in here alone._

He spends the night in that small room lying on the thin bed. He stares up at the ceiling and he strokes his thumb back and forth over the name of his soulmate. It helps him to feel less alone, but also a part of him is thinking _if I ever find this man I will ask him to help me get revenge on Magneto, since he is clearly an expert._ The thought of Magneto suffering for his sins against he and Wanda and the world helps him get through that night.

The next day, he and Wanda leave the Brotherhood for good.

***

They return to Transia and spend some time just _living_. Growing up they spent most of their time just trying to survive – it is nice to relax and pretend to be normal, for once.

The X-Men had invited them to join their ranks, but he and Wanda had agreed the two of them had had enough of mutant politics to last a lifetime.

Occasionally he wonders about his parents – his birth parents, that is. Where did they come from? Who are they? Are they still alive? He and Wanda stay up at night discussing the possibilities like they are passing secrets in class – whispered and hushed suggestions that betray their loneliness.

Sometimes he thinks about running across a few borders to Latveria – where his soulmate is – but he never does. He’s too scared to discover the truth. He knows that if he and his soulmate cannot be together then he will probably spend the rest of his life alone. He and Wanda are joined at the hip now – but that will surely change when she finds her other half. And he knows that Wanda won’t have the same problem he does; her soulmate will be every bit as good and as kind as she is.

***

One morning in Transia they see that the Avengers are recruiting new members. He isn’t sure why the idea appeals to him – maybe it is because he is getting restless or maybe it is because he does not want the names Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to go down in history as having been villains under the thumb of Magneto. Whatever the reason, he and Wanda agree to go to America to request membership.

He had thought maybe there would be some pushback from the Avengers – that maybe they wouldn’t want former ‘mutant terrorists’ on their team – but they seem to take himself and Wanda at face value and let them both join.

They aren’t the only new members.

Their new team is only four heroes strong: Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Captain America. Hawkeye is a former criminal like themselves, and Captain America a war hero.

Pietro finds himself holding a role that he is not quite suited to which is one of peacemaker, because Clint and Steve seem perpetually at each other’s throats. Apart from the fact that the two clash at every turn, the team actually all get along quite well. They work well together, and even though Steve is their leader he is not Magneto – he is good and strong and respects them all, taking their opinions into consideration when he makes a decision.

Pietro finds he quite likes being a hero, after all.

 _For the first time in my life_ , he considers, _I think I am truly content_.

And then a letter from Latveria arrives.

***

They have an aunt in Latveria, apparently.

That is what the letter tells them. He and Wanda are elated – perhaps this aunt will know more about their birth parents, perhaps they have a whole host of family out there in the world that this woman could shed light on.

Of course, a small part of him is thinking that his soulmate lives in Latveria – rules it, even, and that perhaps they will run into each other somehow. Pietro is barely an adult, and he is still naïve and hopeful. What happens next is probably his own fault, because even if the others had forgotten that Doctor Doom ruled Latveria, he hadn’t, and he had neglected to warn the others.

When they arrive they are immediately arrested and thrown into jail.

Steve and Clint lament that they were stupid enough to forget that Latveria was Doom’s kingdom – Wanda gives him a _look_ which the other’s don’t see; clearly she had forgotten too but knew that he couldn’t have.

The four of them are able to escape the jail but are trapped in the country by a giant forcefield which surrounds the border, preventing them from leaving. The forcefield is shaped like a giant dome – they can’t even _fly_ out. They have no choice but to confront Doom in his Castle because clearly this whole thing was a ruse designed to lead the Avengers to him.

Pietro wants to sink into the ground and disappear. He can’t believe the first time he will meet his soulmate is on the opposite side of a battle.

Doom is… a _lot_ more powerful than they had anticipated. And a lot more arrogant.

“Why have you imprisoned us here? We’ve done nothing wrong! We deserve an explanation!” Wanda demands when they meet him in his castle. He is glad she has the courage to say what he cannot.

“Very well then, you shall receive one. It may be the last thing you will ever hear!” Doom tells them. “You are no concern of mine! It is the Fantastic Four who are my greatest mortal enemies! Think how impressed they shall be with my power when they learn you are my captives! Then fearfully – desperately – they shall come to rescue you – and I’ll trap them as easily as I did you!”

And so then they are forced to fight him. There is a point – in the fighting – where Pietro is the last one standing; the others have been knocked unconscious, but Doom is unable to catch _him_ , of course.

“Why did you lure us here,” he asks the armoured man – which is a stupid question, really, because Doom has already explained himself, but he’s just so desperate for there to be another explanation.

Doom stares him down, impassively, “I have already explained myself to you.”

His bland and uninterested tone sets something off in Pietro:

“Well clearly the Fantastic Four are not coming to our rescue!” he explodes. “So either they are not as gullible as you think they are, or you have not even informed them we are here! And I am willing to bet it is the latter, which means that you lured us here for an entirely different reason, _Victor_!”

Doom watches him silently, and then he straightens his posture slightly so that he is not poised to attack, “Well met, Pietro Maximoff.”

A tiny glimmer of hope rises in him before it is as quickly squashed by the man in question:

“Alas… I have no use for you,” Doom tells him. “In truth you are fortunate to still be living – when I heard your name on the news, I thought to kill you then and there. Soulmates are a weakness and Doom does not need an Achilles’ Heel. Such weakness is evidenced by the fact I could not bring myself to end your life. And again I see I am plagued by the same affliction; I should strike you down now – when you are suitably distracted… but I cannot. So take your fellow Avengers and leave this place and take consolation in the fact that you still live – but be warned that if you cross me again, my sentimentality will not save you a third time.”

Pietro cannot stop staring at him stupidly and brokenly – he must look so very pitiful because the man softens his tone to add, “You should be grateful – I have done you a favour.” And Doom reaches up to take away his mask, showing Pietro his face.

It is scarred and burnt and twisted.

It is supposed to be horrifying, supposed to make Pietro _grateful_ that his soulmate wishes him dead. Instead it causes Pietro to say, simply, “Are you in pain?” And then quieter, “I hope you are not.”

Doom stares at him in a mixture of anger and confusion and then he turns his back on Pietro and leaves the room.

When the Avengers ask him how they are free to go, Pietro fabricates a story about how Doom realised the Fantastic Four would not show up and so he had no more use for them. Steve and Clint take the story as it is – they have no reason to believe it is anything but the truth. Wanda, of course, is not so easily fooled.

“What did he tell you, brother?” she asks him later when they are alone in his room at Avengers Mansion.

He laughs and it is slightly hysterical and bitter and precedes a burst of anger which causes him to strike out at the wall. And then he is slumped against the wall, defeated and suddenly so _exhausted_. And then he just _sobs_.

Wanda is understandably alarmed but runs to cradle him in her arms like he is a child. That thought causes him to laugh again because he _is_ barely an adult, he and Wanda being only twenty which is not even the legal drinking age in America.

As Wanda comforts him he thinks, _at least I will always have my sister,_ but _of course_ only days after that thought she finds _her_ soulmate.

***

Jean Grey is everything Pietro ever imagined when he envisioned Wanda’s soulmate. She is kind and bright and soulful with a smile as wide as the horizon.

She is also Marvel Girl of the X-Men.

Wanda is relaying all this to him in a dreamy voice when she says, “And to think if we had stayed with that awful man Magneto I would be her adversary! I would be like you and –”

She cuts herself off and flushes with embarrassment because she clearly realises that that was insensitive. He simply pretends he doesn’t hear. She’s right, after all. He can hardly be angry with her for telling the truth.

Pietro thinks of the theory that has been floating around for decades – that soulmates have as much capability to destroy each other as they have to love each other. Well clearly no more case studies are needed for that theory, he is surely the best example anyone is ever going to find.

Instead of lamenting over his misfortune – which he spends enough time doing already – he asks Wanda, “And Jean… she is a telepath?”

Wanda brightens – her lapse in tongue forgotten, “Yes! And a telekinetic!”

He zones out as she continues to explain the nuances of Jean’s powers. He feels slightly guilty for doing so, but it truly pains him to hear how easy it is for other pairs to be together. Especially because he knows that now he will truly be alone – now that Wanda has found Jean.

***

A year or so later and he is trying to rescue Wanda after she was kidnapped by a Sentinel in broad daylight. He is angry and frantic – it has been a long while since either of them have had to deal with the problems mutants face.

He should wait for backup – for the Avengers, or for the X-Men who would no doubt come to his aid because of who Wanda is to Jean Grey. But he can’t. Wanda is all he has in his life – he can’t let anything happen to her.

Pietro is reckless and he doesn’t think before he acts – he knows these things, he does. And yet he breaks into the base anyway.

The Sentinel attacks him but he thinks _as long as it is attacking me it isn’t attacking Wanda. As long as it is distracted, the Avengers and the X-Men can save Wanda._

The Sentinel can match him – one up him – in every way. It is its nature to combat mutant abilities – to render them useless. _And yet_ …

 _It is the only way_ , he consoles himself – tries to psych himself up for the pain that will doubtless follow, _it will save Wanda._

He runs at top speed into a solid wall. He feels his bones crack and break and fracture under his skin.

But he sees the Sentinel break in the exact same way too, because it had followed him straight into the wall like he planned.

His vision is fading – he will pass out soon… the pain is too much.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees a woman – strawberry blonde hair and wearing all blue. She has appeared suddenly, a huge dog by her side. She’s staring at him.

_I must be hallucinating… a woman and a giant dog…_

***

When he wakes, he is dazed and confused. His whole-body _aches_ and he has no idea where he is.

He’s lying up in a bed. He traces the lines of his body with his fingertips – someone has bandaged him up.

His surroundings are unfamiliar… this isn’t the Avengers’ infirmary.

“Are you awake?” a voice asks – a woman, “You’ve been unconscious for many days.”

“Where am I?” he manages to say, his throat dry and his voice hoarse. “Is Wanda okay?”

“I’m sorry,” the woman says, confused, “I don’t know who that is.”

The woman enters his view – she is vaguely familiar and quite pretty. Her hair is strawberry blonde and pushed out of her face by a large black band that reaches around to the back of her head.

“You were there,” he remembers, “When I was injured.”

“Yes,” she says, solemnly, “Lockjaw and I came across your broken body… you were very gravely injured so I brought you here.”

Pietro looks around – to familiarise himself with _here_.

The room he’s lying in is exceedingly wealthy looking. The walls are supported by engraved pillars and although there is no visible door, there is a wide archway – the spandrels are richly decorated with figures he does not recognise. The walls themselves are gold filigree and look like they belong in the Amber Room and not an infirmary.

“Where are we?”

“This is the city of Attilan,” the woman tells him, gesturing around herself. “It is the home to my people – the Inhumans – and it is located on the Blue Area of the Moon.”

He stares at her in astonishment. “The _moon_?”

She merely nods and doesn’t seem to understand his confusion. She moves closer and sits herself gingerly on the edge of his bed. He watches her warily.

“My name is Crystalia Amaquelin of the Royal Family of Attilan,” she announces to him unceremoniously, “And who are you?”

“Quicksilver,” he replies, and then changes his mind. “Well, Pietro Maximoff.”

Crystalia nods. “And you are a superhero of Earth?”

“An Avenger.”

“Then it is an honour to meet you,” she tells him kindly. “For a brief time I myself fought alongside the Fantastic Four.”

He is surprised. “You have powers?”

“Oh, yes,” she smiles at him serenely. “I am an elemental – here, let me demonstrate.”

Crystalia waves a petite hand up, inclining it to the right, and a cold breeze flies through the room. The sheets on his bed ripple and his skin raises in goose bumps. Her hair shifts in the breeze as does his own. He notices again how pretty she is.

“I can control the other elements too, of course,” she explains easily, “but obviously air was the easiest to show inside.”

He smiles slightly. “It is an impressive ability. I am a speedster though I cannot return your display, evidently.” He gestures at his bandaged body.

Pietro’s movement seems to inspire a memory in Crystalia, and she seizes upon it. “I hope this is not an invasive question,” she begins, “but I was curious as to the marking on your inner wrist?”

He furrows his brow. “You mean by soulmate’s name?”

“Is that what it is?” she asks, curiously, “I have never seen one before – we do not have them on Attilan.”

Pietro is surprised and slightly horrified and definitely a bit jealous. _If only I did not have one_ , he muses.

“So…” She looks at him intently. “You are married, then – or betrothed?”

He stifles a laugh at the question because he does not think it could be possible for her to be further from the truth. “No.” He feels he should elaborate but isn’t sure how.

“Oh,” Crystalia looks surprised, but also a pleased look has entered her eyes. “Why not? Are they dead?”

He hesitates, looking up at her where she sits appealingly at his bedside. He thinks of his one interaction with his soulmate – just over a year ago – and a heaviness weighs under his ribs.

_Alas… I have no use for you._

Pietro meets her eyes. “Yes,” he decides, “He is dead – he died before I ever met him.”

***

Over the next week, Crystalia – or Crystal, as she insists on being called – visits him every day.

She tends to his wounds – which are severe – and keeps him company. She is kind and gentle and interesting. And she is also interested in _him_.

Perhaps it is a natural consequence of his loneliness – and that he is away from everyone he knows and loves – but he begins to become interested in her, too.

 _This would not happen on Earth_ , he thinks, _most people do not deviate from their soulmates after meeting them, and to do so would be considered a huge betrayal_.

But he is hardly most people – his soulmate has made it clear they do not want him in any shape or form, and Inhumans have no soulmates so it is not as if Crystal is betraying anyone.

_And I do not want to be alone forever._

***

When he is well enough, he manages to reach the Avengers and his sister with the technology of the Inhumans.

The relief he feels is indescribable as he sees Wanda’s form crackle to life on the screen.

“Oh! You’re alive – you’re alive!” she exclaims, her face transforming into gladness. “We were so worried – so afraid…”

Pietro feels guilt sneak up on him – he knows that he contacted Wanda as soon as he was able to, but it is something else to be confronted with his sister’s fears. He knows how he would have felt had their situation been reversed – he would not have been able to sleep lest he knew Wanda was safe.

“Wanda, I am sorry to have upset you,” he tells her whole-heartedly, “but I was close to death – unconscious for many days – and unable to reach you until now.”

He turns his gaze to Crystal, who stands by his side. “In fact, it was only due to the dedicated nursing of this girl – Crystal, of the Inhumans – that I am able to stand here at all…”

To satiate Wanda’s doubtless curiosity, he explains how he went to the Sentinel’s base to rescue Wanda – how he had destroyed the machine but at the cost of his own health. How Crystal had stumbled upon him and used the dog Lockjaw to teleport him to Attilan to save his life.

“No one could have been kinder or more tender toward me – coaxing the agony from my bones and filling my pain wracked waking hours with a quiet, diverting cheerfulness,” he explains to his sister, regarding Crystal’s looking after him. “I grew to depend upon her – and simultaneously, I filled a void that had existed in her life since she had become separated from another.”

Crystal had told him about her former relationship with the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. He guesses that Jonathan Storm has not met his soulmate yet – it is usual behaviour, he has observed – for people to have casual relationships with others before they meet their soulmates, though it is expected for these to end when one meets their other half. Truthfully this is something he had not known until he came to America – it is not the same where he grew up.

“What I’m trying to say, my sister,” he says, smiling slightly, “is that Crystal and I are in love – and plan to be married!”

The Avengers who are also listening to the transmission along with Wanda all burst into smiles and congratulations – they, of course, do not know that his soulmate is not Crystal. It is natural for them to assume – being from Earth.

Wanda knows otherwise, of course. She is staring at himself and Crystal with wide eyes. _It is natural for her to be shocked;_ he tells himself, _but what did she expect, really? My soulmate does not want me… hates the idea of me… but I cannot be alone forever, and Crystal is someone who loves me. Who has ever loved me, sister? Apart from you?_

Eventually his sister seems to realise that the Avengers – and Crystal – are waiting for her reaction. “Pietro! How wonderful!” she says with a wide smile that does not reach her eyes. “And I have equally good news for you! Jean and I have declared our love for each other, and we are to be married too!”

He is not surprised, of course, because Jean and his sister are soulmates – but he is happy for them both nonetheless. Jean and his sister are a perfect match, he knows this in his heart. And even if he feels slightly bitter at their ease in connection, he pushes that down. He cannot feel jealous of people’s soulmates anymore – he is to be married. He will not need to be jealous anymore, for he will have a partner of his own – even if it does not match the name on his wrist.

“I am happy for you both, Wanda,” he tells her with a true smile on his face because his sister deserves all the happiness in the world. “I suppose we must have a double wedding!”

Everyone seems to think this a marvellous idea – even Wanda who he knows is still wary about his situation.

 _Soon,_ he muses, _everything will be as it should be – and I can forget that I ever had the name Victor Von Doom on my wrist._

***

Pietro has no idea why he thought it would be so easy.

He and Crystal indeed travel back to Earth to share a wedding with his sister and Jean. The wedding is beautiful and full of happiness and attended by a score of heroes from the Fantastic Four to the Avengers to the X-Men.

Wanda seems to have accepted his relationship with Crystal – she agrees with him that his soulmate does not matter as long as Pietro is happy, which he is.

Only days after the wedding and he and Crystal are residing at Avengers Mansion for the time being. They are to return to Attilan soon but are making the most of their time on Earth. He has shown her the country where he grew up – running her to Transia and to the lands he wandered after his parents were killed. He tells her about the mystery of his real parents and how he hopes to find them one day. About how he and Wanda had only each other for so long.

His and Wanda’s relationship is something that Crystal understands quite well – she has her own sister, after all. She and Medusa are not twins, Crystal explains, but they are very close with each other. Inhuman families – Pietro has noticed – are quite small and many of them do not have children. Crystal attributes this to the Inhumans’ Genetic Council – a council of ‘elders’ who decide whether couples can marry each other and if they are allowed to have children after that.

Frankly, this idea disturbs him on a level he cannot quite express to Crystal. She is not from Earth – she does not know or realise how similar this practice is to that of monsters like Hitler. For him especially, the idea of a group of people deciding who in society gets to have children is not something that he accepts easily. He is Rom which would be enough for most people in power to want to stop his having children – not to mention his status as a mutant.

He supposes for the Inhumans it isn’t the same – as he understands it (or, as Crystal explains it) the Genetic Council exists to protect the Inhumans from the effects of unregulated terrigenesis. As Pietro learns – terrigenesis is the process that Inhumans undergo to develop their powers. However, it can sometimes lead to deformities or destructive and unstable powers; their own King – Black Bolt – is an example. Black Bolt is Crystal’s brother-in-law and the King of the Inhumans – he was exposed to the terrigen mists when still in the womb and was born with a voice so powerful it can shatter mountains. The man was locked up his whole childhood until he learned to control his abilities and forced to live his whole life in silence. Cases like this allows Pietro to understand why the Inhumans would want to restrict and control terrigenesis… he still feels it unpleasant to consider, though.

But the worries he has about Inhuman life are not relevant to him right now, so he dismisses them – he has more pressing worries.

***

_He is back in the castle of Doctor Doom – the scene is identical to their first meeting. The fallen bodies of his comrades and sister lie around him. Pietro is kneeling over the body of his sister, protecting her from further attack._

_Doctor Doom stands over him._

_“Pietro Maximoff,” the man in the armour says coldly, fixing him with a gaze that chills him. “I hear you have betrayed me.”_

_“What?” He does not understand – is this not a dream inspired by memory? That is not what Doom said when they were confronted originally._

_“I heard word of your marriage to that girl from the race of the Inhumans – the girl who served as an ally to my enemies the Fantastic Four.”_

_“Crystal,” he murmurs, because he is confused. Why would he dream about his soulmate confronting him about his marriage? “Is… is this a dream?”_

_“A dream?” Doom sounds amused. “Do you dream of me often, Pietro?”_

_“Yes,” he admits, “I dream of you killing me – like you promised me you would do.”_

_This causes the man in the armour to re-evaluate the situation. “Yes, it is possible I was… remiss, in that case.”_

_He is starting to suspect that this isn’t a dream, and instead some sort of vision – something induced in his mind by someone else. “Is this… real? These words are your own, and not a figment of my imagination?”_

_“I am a sorcerer,” Doom tells him, as if that on its own is an answer. “I am able to project my conscious into the dreams of others – though your mind is harder to reach than others for your thoughts move as fast as you can run – but to answer your query… yes, this is real.”_

_“Oh.” A pause. “Are you going to kill me?”_

_“I see now I have wronged you,” the man begins, “I was hasty before… I did not expect someone like you to be my soulmate. And although I do not deviate from my belief that having you by my side would be a weakness – I suppose it is one I can tolerate.”_

_He is extraordinarily confused. “I am married now – I do not wish to stand by your side.”_

_Immediately he realises that this was the wrong thing to say._

_“And you thought that your farce of a marriage would free you from me, hmm?” the man demands angrily, his eyes glowing beneath his mask. “You thought you could escape your fate? You are mine – it is destined so.”_

_“Perhaps I was destined to be yours,” he allows, “but you did not want me. Now I am someone else’s. It is humanity’s nature to move on and adapt lest we perish – I did not want to perish with you, and so I have moved on.”_

_Doom pauses, his eyes raking over Pietro’s form in a disturbed sort of fascination. “So be it,” he says finally, “Fair play, Pietro Maximoff – but do not fool yourself into thinking that I will let you go that easily. I am your soulmate and this woman Crystalia is merely a passing fancy – I know who will come out on top in the end. I can endure this folly of yours for now – you are young, it is to be expected. Soon enough you will realise the gravity of your mistake, and I will be here waiting.”_

And then Pietro wakes up.

***

He is glad, after that… _encounter_ , to be going back to Attilan. So Victor Von Doom can reach him in his dreams? Very well, at least he does not have to see the man face to face.

Obviously he cannot tell Crystal about it, and he procrastinates too long to tell Wanda about it, so in the end no one knows, because they are the only people he shares anything with. It makes him feel anxious – as if he is keeping some sort of dark secret. _I am not doing anything wrong_ ; he reminds himself, _there is no reason to tell anyone about Doom – it is okay to keep it to myself._

Although he is glad to escape to Attilan so that he cannot be tracked down by Doom – that is the scope of his enjoyment in regard to the situation. Attilan is beautiful – royal and gold and everything that he thought he would never have; thought he would never deserve. Obviously there is no need for superheroes on Attilan, but they do have a military which he joins. He finds he likes the structure of it, and he finds it purposeful – like being an Avenger was. But more importantly, it is a way to ingratiate himself in Inhuman society.

It has been a long time since he felt the way he was as a child, with the Rom – when he was an outsider – but it is a feeling he will never forget. And when he is with the Inhumans… he feels it again.

Their society has so many rules and niceties that he isn’t privy too. And perhaps it would be fine if Crystal was a normal Inhuman, but she isn’t – she’s their princess. Pietro isn’t suited to a life in the public eye, where everything he does is judged and scrutinised. And that is what it is like being a part of their Royal Family. Black Bolt and Medusa – they are kind and understanding and benevolent towards him; they too stand out in their own society… but not like _him_.

Like with the Rom all those years ago, he _tries_ to fit in. He tries to understand their culture and their history – even when most of it is _horrifying_ to him; the Genetic Council… the Alpha Primitives… these customs are similar to Earth’s own past, but whilst the humans have moved past these barbaric practices, the Inhumans have stuck with them. And the Inhumans notice his disgust with their traditions – they think he is being rude and dismissive to their culture… they do not know he is biting his tongue at every turn, restraining himself at all times from unleashing what he really thinks about them.

When he was with the Avengers – he never felt alone. He was part of the team, he was valued. His sister loved him, and Steve and Clint were his friends – and Jean, who was not an Avenger, still went out of her way to befriend him; she made sure that he knew she was not just Wanda’s soulmate, but also his friend.

On Attilan he is alone.

Pietro wishes he didn’t feel like that because it makes him feel guilty… he shouldn’t feel that way, because he has Crystal… his _wife_. And he loves her – he does – but she just doesn’t understand him. She does not understand why he frowns when she talks to him of the Genetic Council or when she talks about the Alpha Primitives – when she talks about them like they are not people. She doesn’t understand why sometimes he likes to spend time alone – Crystal is such a social person but honestly socialising is something that can become very exhausting to him very quickly. He cannot help it – it is the nature of his powers.

And one day – when he is contemplating how isolated he feels, his wife comes to him in an excitement. She is pregnant, she tells him with a smile. And he smiles too – it is the first time he has smiled in a while. He listens to Crystal as she rambles through telling him that the Genetic Council approved their having a child – something she seems surprised at, actually, because the Elders do not approve of humans; he is a mutant, and that is different enough for them, apparently.

Children are so rare on Attilan – he hardly sees any when he walks about the place – so a birth is very exciting for the Inhumans; even more so because it is a royal birth. It is during those nine months that Crystal is pregnant that he is truly happy. Whatever dislike the Inhumans had of him seems to dissipate in the wake of her pregnancy – everyone is too excited and joyous to spend time disliking him. And he understands, because he is as excited as anyone.

Pietro is sure that he must bother Crystal with his constant worrying and checking up on her, but she seems to take his behaviour in good faith. She is comforted most by her sister Medusa who tends to her every need as if she wasn’t in fact the Queen of the Inhumans but instead a nurse, but he supposes familial ties come before titles. He is grateful for Medusa’s doting as it improves his wife’s moods, but he cannot help but pity her. Crystal does not notice the look in her sister’s eyes when they fall on her pregnant form. Medusa is jealous of her sister – though she would never admit it, and clearly she does not hold it against Crystal. Evidently Medusa wants a child of her own. When he inquires to his wife as to why Medusa and Black Bolt have no heir, she explains that the Genetic Council have forbid them to produce one – that they deem the genes of Black Bolt to be too unstable and dangerous, what with the destructive nature of his powers and the madness of his brother Maximus. It is times like these when he wishes he were a more emotional person – someone capable of comforting others. He truly does feel for his sister-in-law. He wonders if she feels as lonely as he did – she and her husband have their own way of speaking, he knows… but she must long for the voices of others too? She used to have Crystal, but now she is his wife and he feels oddly like he has taken something from Medusa; an absurd feeling, of course, because Crystal is not a possession to be taken from someone… but still he feels guilt.

When Crystal gives birth, it is to a daughter. They name her Luna, for her birthplace was the moon – a first for an Inhuman birth, Crystal tells him, as Attilan used to be hidden on Earth.

Their daughter is beautiful – blue eyes and tufts of blond hair. And through some strange happenstance or another, she is born perfectly _human_. Apparently Pietro’s mutant genes and Crystal’s Inhuman genes have cancelled each other out, producing a human child.

It is not something that truly bothers him, really – but he has reservations about it. He just always assumed any child of his would be a mutant too – that it would be something they shared; maybe they would even have the same powers. To find out his child is in fact human is disorientating. Pietro is left wondering if when Luna grows up she will feel isolated and an outcast – Inhuman society is not kind, after all. They can barely tolerate him, and he _has_ powers. How will they treat his precious daughter, who has none?

***

_Pietro is sitting in an art gallery, which is odd because he is sure he has never visited one before in his whole life._

_It is beautiful, though. The room is octagonal with stone floors and walls, like a castle. Paintings hang from walls and sculptures stand frozen atop podiums dotted around the room._

_“This is my private art gallery,” a voice says, startling him. “You are one of few people to be privy to such a place.”_

_Oh. He should have realised when he thought the room looked like it belonged in a castle. Castle with a capital C – Castle Doom._

_“I thought you said you would leave me alone.”_

_The armoured man seems amused, “I said I would leave you to your folly with Crystal, and indeed I have – I hear congratulations are in order, you are a father.”_

_Pietro’s blood runs cold. “If you hurt her I –”_

_“You misunderstand me,” Doom says, almost gently. “Truly, I congratulate you – children are a blessing to those who have them… and they are innocent. I would never bring any harm upon one – especially one of your blood.”_

_He is not sure why he believes the man, but he does. It’s just something about his tone… “Do you have children?”_

_“A son – not of my blood, but my son all the same. Kristoff. Older than your daughter – he is six years old, though I have only had him for a year or so._ _I brought him into my household after his mother was slaughtered by a pretender to my throne.”_

_He is surprised. “Why did you do that?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“Why did you take the child in?” Pietro asks, curiously, “There are orphans everywhere in the world – in your country too, I’m sure. So why him?” It just strikes him as a very benevolent thing for someone to do, especially coming from someone who calls themselves ‘Doctor Doom’._

_Doom contemplates this for a moment, and then, “I suppose he reminded me of myself. My mother too was slain by someone who did not deserve the power they had.”_

_Pietro isn’t sure what makes him say it, but he says, “My mother was killed too – and my father.”_

_“Ah – so we are all orphans.”_

_He nods, though does not speak. He looks around again at all the paintings – he knows nothing about art. “Shouldn’t these be in a museum?” It seems a waste to lock them up in this room which Doom has already admitted is a room rarely seen by others._

_“Perhaps,” the man allows. “But these are not works of art I bought and kept locked up – these are ones I rescued myself.”_

_“Rescued?” He cannot imagine what Doom means by that – for all Pietro knows the man means he has stolen them._

_Doom must sense which directions his thoughts have strayed because he sounds amused when he speaks. “Indeed – these paintings were in the cargo of the Vrouw Maria when the ship sank in 1771. It was a Dutch ship carrying a variety of artefacts – including the paintings in this room – to Catherine the Great of Russia, who had purchased them. The ship was rediscovered in 1999 but for whatever reason no one ever bothered to rescue the cargo – so I did so myself. The other artefacts are in Latveria’s museum of history, but I kept the art for myself. It is quite satisfying to possess pieces of art that the rest of the world will never see.”_

_Pietro finds himself surprised – he really did expect Doom to admit that he had stolen the art from some random museum or another. Though he supposes what the man did instead is still technically stealing – though in a more benevolent sense, perhaps. It just seems such a trivial thing for the man to do – rescue a cargo of a sunken ship for no apparent reason – when usually the man spends his time antagonising a group of superheroes._

_Doom contemplates him. “What are you thinking about?”_

_“Why did you salvage the cargo of that ship?” Why do something almost heroic when you spend the rest of your time doing villainous acts?_

_“Why not?” the man counters. “I am fond of history and art – this was a venture that combined both. All history should be preserved – and here was some that was just lying under the sea waiting to be brought to the surface. I have other interests, you know – I do not just spend my time in this Castle contemplating how best to ruin Richards and his family.”_

_“You can’t blame me,” Pietro says, biting back a smile because he doesn’t mean to be amused by this man who is actually in fact one of the world’s worst supervillains. “That is sort of the impression you give off to the world.”_

_“Well of course,” he says, as if it should be obvious. “That is purposeful – if the rest of the world thinks I am in Latveria plotting, then they do not suspect that I am really salvaging shipwrecks from the bottom of the Baltic Sea.”_

_Pietro smiles slightly. “And what else do you do when the rest of the world thinks you are doing evil things?”_

_“You tell me, Pietro Maximoff – I am here talking to you, am I not?”_

***

A few months after Luna’s birth, and Pietro is waiting in anxious excitement for the arrival of his sister and her wife. The two of them have come to visit their niece whom they have only seen through video communication until now. He can’t wait to see his sister – he has been parted from her for too long. The two of them do not do very well apart, to tell the truth. Or, at least, he doesn’t do well apart from his sister – he’s not sure how easy Wanda finds it on her own. Perhaps it is easier for her, with her soulmate.

 _But I have my wife and daughter,_ he thinks, _shouldn’t that be enough_?

No. He won’t dwell on such thoughts today – it is going to be a happy day, and he won’t give heed to the worries that fill him usually to ruin it.

It is the early afternoon when a Quinjet touches down outside the city limits of Attilan. Pietro is already there, waiting, as are Medusa and Black Bolt. As soon as the plane door opens, and Wanda steps out, he is there to embrace her.

“Wanda! I have missed you!” he exclaims, holding her tightly in his arms for a few seconds. “How are you? Are you okay? And how are the Avengers?”

His sister laughs as she disentangles herself from his arms. “I have missed you too, brother. What I have not missed is how quickly you speak! Ask me questions one at a time, I cannot answer them all at once.” She says this in jest, with a bright smile. “But if I must ease your mind immediately, I am fine and in good spirits. And the Avengers are fine too, our ranks are growing but you are always welcome to join us anytime you are on Earth.”

Wanda is soon joined by her wife who climbs down out of the Quinjet after her. Jean is as bright and bubbly as always – she pecks Wanda on the cheek before embracing him kindly, “Pietro – it is good to see you! I cannot wait to see your little Luna; I just know she must be even more precious in person!”

“It is good to see you too, sister-in-law,” he greets happily, “And I’m sure Luna is just as excited to meet her aunt Jean!”

Jean laughs before turning and being formally greeted by Medusa and Black Bolt, and whilst this is happening Wanda takes him aside slightly.

“I have something for you…” she says, passing him a small package. “A gift for Luna that was addressed to Avengers Mansion – I do not know who it is from, so take caution in opening it.” Wanda twists her hands nervously as she says this, and Pietro is curious about who it could be from. A part of him wonders if there is some member of his family out there in the world who has reached out to celebrate the birth of his daughter, but the last time he thought a family member was reaching out it had just been Doom tricking them.

Oh. Could it be… from _him_? He had congratulated Pietro on Luna’s birth and he does seem the kind of person to send a gift for such an occasion, but at the same time what would be the purpose of doing that? Doom doesn’t do anything without reason, surely? At least, he does not do things for sentimental reasons… right?

_I’m being silly – I am thinking too much into it and seeing things that aren’t there. Surely the gift is just from some friend or another, someone I knew with the Avengers, no doubt._

“Thank you,” he tells Wanda, because he realises he has not replied to her whilst his mind was racing through the possibilities of the sender. “I will open it later.”

Wanda pauses. “There is something else…” she says, “last night I had a troubling dream – that sounds silly, I know but –”

“But often your dreams are premonitions,” he cuts in, gently; he can see that Wanda is truly nervous about what she dreamt of. “Are you okay?”

“Yes… it just felt so real,” she says, slightly dazed as if she is far away in her mind remembering. “I think perhaps I dreamt of our parents, though surely I cannot have any real memory of them…”

He is startled because he too had a similar dream – he does not remember his dreams the way Wanda does; his mind works too fast even in his sleep. But he has flashes. Of a mountain that must have been Wundagore in Transia – perhaps the place of their birth. Of a female kindly voice. Of an angry man. Not a memory, he is sure. But what else could it have been?

“I had a similar dream,” he admits to his sister. “But premonition or not, you shouldn’t worry yourself – Attilan is well-guarded and we are certainly safe here.”

Wanda nods, to reassure herself.

“Come,” he says to her, taking her arm, “let us forget such troubles and I will introduce you to your niece.”

His sister nods and summons Jean from her conversation with the King and Queen. Black Bolt and Medusa bid them a final welcome before parting, and Pietro is left to escort Wanda and Jean into the palace and into his and Crystal’s apartments.

His wife is waiting for them, in the nursery.

“Crystal – beloved,” he greets her, smiling. She is wearing a slim gown of yellow silk the colour of the sun which compliments her hair which reaches down her back. She’s cradling their daughter in her arms and smiles widely at them as they enter. “As I promised, my sister and her wife have come to visit our daughter.”

Crystal moves towards them, “Wanda, Jean – welcome, welcome to our home.” She kisses them both on the cheek in the way women greet each other sometimes. As she does, she gently passes Luna into Wanda’s arms.

His sister stares down at her niece in amazement and joy. He is slightly afraid that she may burst into tears – joyful tears, at least. As he watches Wanda bestow praises onto Luna and her mother, he wonders if having children is something Wanda and Jean have thought about. There are plenty of ways for same-sex couples to have children – it must have crossed their minds at one point. He reminds himself to inquire later, in private.

Wanda soon passes her niece into Jean’s arms, who accepts her gracefully. Jean too seems delighted with her niece, brushing her fingers across Luna’s head where tufts of blonde hair are just showing through.

The three women engage in conversation about… well, he’s not quite sure. He should probably pay attention, but his mind is wandering. A slight feeling has settled in his chest. He can’t quite name it. Anxiety? Apprehension? But what is there to be nervous about?

A strange sound rocks the building suddenly, and the four of them look around at each other in confusion.

“What was that?” Wanda asks, alarmed. Pietro is alarmed too – was this what that feeling in his chest was? Danger? But who would attack them here in Attilan?

Jean passes Luna back to Crystal, who clutches the baby to her chest. Pietro, Wanda and Jean move out onto the balcony – to hopefully gain a better view if something is happening down below in the city.

The three of them gasp.

The building is completely encased in some sort of forcefield. It is slightly transparent so that they can still see the city below – he spots Gorgon and Karnak trying to break the barrier, with Medusa and Black Bolt looking up at the balcony where the three of them stand.

Jean reaches out a hand – it glows, and she pushes outwards with her telekinesis. Nothing happens. “My powers have no effect on it,” she says apologetically, glancing at Wanda who then tries to use her own powers to bring down the forcefield.

Wanda shakes her head. “My hex powers seem to have no effect either.”

“Do not be alarmed,” a voice says, from above. “I merely wanted to have a private conversation with you all… the others below do not concern me.”

Pietro feels his heart freeze. He would recognise that voice anywhere. Sometimes he dreams of it – of being shouted at and ridiculed and punished for not wanting to inflict terror on the world.

Magneto.

His sister recognises the voice too. “Magneto! Why have you come? You are not welcome here!”

The barrier shimmers slightly – opening and then closing up again as the man enters into their sight. He is dressed as usual: in red and purple and with that God-awful helmet which shields him from mental intrusions.

As soon as Magneto floats down and lands on the solid ground, Pietro rushes at him. This man has already brought harm to he and Wanda – he will not allow anything to happen to his wife and daughter.

“Any debt my sister and I once owed you was long since paid!” he shouts at the man, because he cannot see any other reason why the man would have come for them if not to manipulate the two of them into his service. “Since then, we have been sworn foes! And I will not allow your threats against my family or myself in my own house!”

“I have not come to fight!” Magneto replies, throwing up a forcefield to protect himself.

Pietro skids to a halt in order to avoid the forcefield Magneto has created. He moves to attack again, but an invisible force stops him.

“Pietro,” Jean says, calmly – using her telekinesis to stop him from moving. “Perhaps we should hear whatever he has to say first, before we rush into a fight.”

He scowls but has to concede that she has a point. “Well then, Magneto – what could you possible want from my sister and I?”

The man reaches up to his helmet and takes it off. Pietro stares at him in surprise – he has probably only seen Magneto without his helmet a few times in his life. And to take it off in front of a telepath such as Jean? He cannot imagine where Magneto is going with this. “I hope that we can put the past behind us,” he says to them all, “such enmities are ancient history. Especially in the face of new life – the birth of your daughter, Pietro, represents a new order of things.”

Pietro feels slightly ill – what care would Magento have for Luna? Especially because she was born a human. _Is he here to hurt her? Does he see her humanity as an insult against mutantkind?_

Crystal has wandered onto the balcony by now – Luna still in her arms – to see what the commotion is all about. He cannot tell if she recognises who Magneto is – he is sure he has mentioned the man before, and maybe Crystal even recognises him from her time on Earth with the Fantastic Four. Nevertheless, she clutches Luna close to her chest.

Magneto moves towards them both, slowly – as if to show that he means no harm. But how can he? Why else would he have come here? Pietro and Wanda have not seen him for years and they did not part on amicable terms. Jean has only ever been in conflict with him, as part of the X-Men. What sort of greeting did he expect? Why would he come only to be met with opposition? And why would he care about the new-born daughter of Pietro Maximoff – of Quicksilver, whom he created, and was betrayed by years ago?

As Magneto reaches Crystal and Luna, Wanda summons her powers to hand: “Don’t you dare harm her Magneto or –”

“Harm her?” Magneto sounds bewildered. He sounds as if he is the most innocent and peace-loving man in existence, and not a mutant terrorist. “Why would I harm an innocent child? A baby… and my own granddaughter nonetheless.”

A cold hand has pushed his ribs aside and grasped at his heart. And it is _squeezing_.

_My own granddaughter._

He cannot be serious – this is some jest, a joke to bring more pain onto their family than he has already caused.

“What?” Wanda gasps, her face contorted in disbelief. “You cannot mean –”

“Of course he does not mean it,” Pietro tells her sharply. “It is a lie! He is a villain – all he does is lie! How many times has he lied to us before? It is not true, it can’t be!”

Wanda reaches out to him, laying a small hand on his wrist. “But Pietro… haven’t you ever noticed how similar you and Magneto look…”

He flinches.

Magneto lays a hand gently on Wanda’s shoulder. “And you look so much like your mother, my dear.”

“My mother?” Wanda looks dazed, entranced almost by this knowledge Magneto seems to possess about their origins.

“Yes,” Magneto says, and his voice sounds almost sad. “Magda, my soulmate – and your mother.” He pulls up his sleeve to show them her name which decorates his wrist. The name is faded – the woman it belongs to dead.

The man – who is claiming to be their father – recounts how he knew Magda from his childhood but that they were both taken to Auschwitz during the Holocaust; he for being Jewish, and Magda for being Romani. The two of them managed to escape and later they married and had a daughter and made a life for themselves in Europe. Magneto’s voice struggles when he talks about how their daughter – Anya – was killed in a fire and how he was prevented from rescuing her. He talks about how his powers lashed out, killing those who stopped him saving his daughter. “Magda grew afraid of me after that,” he says. “Soon after she fled during the night. She carried the two of you inside her – I did not know she was pregnant, but she must have – she must have wanted to protect you both from me whom she now saw as a monster. Eventually, she ended up on Wundagore Mountain where she met Bova, who delivered the two of you into this world. And for whatever reason, she left you there and fled again, dying soon after.”

He doesn’t want to believe Magneto’s story. He wants nothing more than to run away, to confront Bova himself who he knows would tell him the truth. But this man’s story adds up to the little knowledge he has. And that dream he and his sister had last night… the female voice and the angry man – had that been Magneto and Bova? Had his and Wanda’s dream been a premonition after all?

But how long has Magneto known this? Had he known years ago, when he saved their lives and forced them into his service? He thinks of the only kindness Magneto had ever shown him – telling him who his soulmate was. He had sounded very sad and very old when he had left Pietro to read about the activities of Doctor Doom. Why else would he be sad about Pietro’s soulmate, if he didn’t know the truth? But then if he had known the truth, why did he never treat he and Wanda with more kindness? His head is spinning trying to piece everything together.

But if Magento is his father, what does that say about Pietro? His father a supervillain, and so too is his soulmate? What is wrong with _him_ if these are the people he is tied to forever?

***

In all the chaos and revelation, Pietro forgets about the gift Wanda gave him. Later, when Magneto is gone and so too are Wanda and Jean – and Crystal is in bed – he finds it and sets it in front of him.

The gift is elaborately wrapped, and slowly he unties the ribbon and pulls back the wrapping paper. Inside is a small thin square box – the type jewellery comes in. He pulls the lid off the box, setting it aside to peek inside.

A gold bracelet – a bangle, really – sits nested inside the box, surrounded by green tissue paper. Gently, he picks it up and holds it up to the light. There’s an inscription along the inside of it.

_Řaza._

He stares at it in confusion for a couple of seconds because that’s Romani – it says _moonbeam_. Moonbeam, for his daughter called Luna.

He looks down into the box, and notices a small card tucked in too. He pulls it out.

_For your daughter, Luna._

_It is spelled with a protective charm and it will always fit her._

It isn’t signed, but instead stamped with a wax seal bearing an elaborate letter D. _So my suspicions were correct… it is from Doom._ He should probably be wary; this is a gift from a supervillain – it could be anything. But for some reason he chooses to believe what the note says – wishful thinking, perhaps – and he creeps into his daughter’s nursery quietly to slip the bangle onto her small wrist. He watches in amazement as it changes shape to fit her. Pietro has only ever seen Wanda’s magic, and she is hardly a typical witch. Her spells and hexes are mostly for fighting and tracking and protection – never for trivial things or trinkets like this.

As he watches his daughter sleep – her new gift glinting in the dark room – he tries to bite back a smile but fails. He will have to lie if Crystal inquires into where it came from – will say it is from Wanda – but he’ll always know the truth. It is a nice feeling – a traitorous feeling, really – to know that his soulmate does not truly hate him.

***

“Do you want to talk about it?” Crystal asks him one morning after Magneto’s visit. “About that man – your father?”

Pietro looks at her oddly. They are sitting eating breakfast – in their own apartments, thankfully. Often they are required to take their meals with the rest of the Royal Family and other important Inhumans which is a duty Pietro detests, but today is not one of those days and he finds himself relaxing for once. He cannot think why Crystal would ask such a thing – does he come across as particularly distressed today? He doesn’t think so, but he is not a good judge of these things.

Truthfully Magneto has been weighing on his mind ever since that day. He feels almost like he is cursed – that he is tainted, and so is his bloodline. Even the thought of his beautiful daughter having the same blood as that man makes him shiver. Magneto had not seemed bothered that his own granddaughter was human, but how long will that last? The man is notoriously fickle. What happens when he decides that actually having a human relative is harmful to the cause of mutantkind? What then? Will he come back – this time to exterminate his granddaughter whose blood has been diluted into humanity?

 _Magneto lost a young daughter,_ he thinks, _I do not think he would inflict the same pain onto me._

That is the only comfort he has – the hope that Magneto would not want his son to suffer like he had suffered. But it is not particularly comforting to remind himself that he would have had an older sister.

Anya. He thinks about her sometimes, finds his mind wandering to a vague picture he has created in his mind of a girl who looks like Wanda, but slightly older. What would she have been like? Would she have coddled him, like Wanda does? Would she have been envious, that Pietro and Wanda were twins? Who would her soulmate have been – and where are they now? That thought in particular weighs on him – the idea that there must be a man or woman out there in the world with the name Anya faded on their wrist; a name that would have been faded perhaps all their life. A coldness strikes his heart when he thinks of that, and he finds himself running his finger along his own name.

“What is there to talk about?” he replies to Crystal’s question.

Crystal stares at him, her jaw clenched slightly, and he realises that he was stroking the name on his wrist because he was thinking of Anya and her soulmate again. He stops immediately but can tell that Crystal is hurt by it. She thinks his soulmate is dead of course, because that’s what he told her, and she has no reason to think otherwise. She doesn’t know enough about soulmates to recognise that the bold ink of his name means Victor Von Doom is not dead, but alive and well.

“I just thought maybe the revelation that Magneto is your father is something that would weigh on you,” she says, slowly. “I know he is not a good man.”

 _Of course he is not a good man,_ he wants to scream, _he is a terrorist and a murderer, and he terrorised me and my sister when we were only children._

Instead he says, “It does not weigh on me.”

Crystal sighs. “I wish you would not feel the need to lie to me.” She pushes back from the table and gets up to leave the room.

“You haven’t finished your breakfast,” he says.

“I’m not hungry.”

He watches her back as she leaves the room. He knows that he has messed up and feels guilty. But what did Crystal expect? She does not know Magneto, does not know what he is really like. He wants to explain, but he just can’t. He is terrible with his emotions – they move through him so fast and he has never been able to express them in the way others find so easy. He has spent his whole life with Wanda – she always knew how he was feeling, he never had to explain anything to her, she just _knew_. And of course it is unfair to hold Crystal to that standard – because she is not his twin, and they are not connected in the same way. And he supposes that really their lack of communication is his fault – because they are not soulmates. It is not as if people who aren’t soulmates cannot be compatible – but that rather his soulmate is alive, and they share a slight bond. It is not like he told Crystal – they are not dead and forgotten. So the result is like he is being torn in two. He loves his wife, and Luna, but he will never be able to stop thinking of _what ifs_.

And other parts of him whisper: _do you really love Crystal or is she just the first person who ever paid you any kindness who was not your sister or already bound to a soulmate? Were you just desperate for positive attention after you realised your soulmate would never want you? Did you just leap at the first chance you were given to escape all the happy couples on Earth because you were hurt and jealous?_

And those thoughts just pile on more guilt.

***

Crystal visits Earth sometimes – there is a potion she can take that allows her to breath properly (the pollution in Earth’s atmosphere is poisonous and toxic to the Inhumans) and she spends time there visiting her friends at the Baxter Building, or Wanda and Jean. Pietro spends most of his time with the Inhuman military, and with Luna. Crystal and Pietro don’t spend a lot of time together and when they do it is always with Luna. This is how they continue for a year or so – until one day Crystal falls ill from overusing the potion that she uses to visit Earth, leaving her in an odd comatose state.

So Crystal is lying on her deathbed in Attilan and the healers seem incapable of helping her – he shouts and argues with them even though he knows it isn’t their fault. But what is really confusing and angering him is that he doesn’t know why Crystal visited Earth. She didn’t go this time to visit Wanda or Jean, because they were away on holiday, and it wasn’t to visit the Fantastic Four. And who is this man who found her – Norman Webster? He says that he found Crystal outside Wanda’s house and that she must have been visiting Wanda, but Crystal knew that Wanda and Jean were travelling and not home – so what was she doing there? Why would she risk exposing herself to the toxic atmosphere of Earth without a clear reason?

He is angry and helpless and confused.

He stands over her bedside. “Crystal, you must talk to me! You must tell me how this happened!”

“Norman,” she murmurs, and he startles in confusion. “No… we’ve always had to hide Norman… can’t tell Pietro… a scandal…”

_Oh._

***

The Inhumans have to stop him from attacking Norman Webster. They don’t seem to be bothered by Crystal’s betrayal, or even ashamed of it.

That only increases Pietro’s anger. “That’s it, isn’t it?” he demands. “You’re all Inhumans and I’m not – I’m an outsider here and I always will be!”

Black Bolt and Medusa don’t reply, and he turns away from them. He feels hurt – he thought that they at least liked him better than the other Inhumans do, but clearly what he interpreted as tentative friendliness was actually just indifference.

Whilst he is busy fighting them, Wanda and Jean combine their powers to wake Crystal up.

When he confronts her about her betrayal, she responds with equal anger.

“Do you think you are innocent in this, Pietro!” she demands. “You lied to me – you told me your soulmate was dead, but he isn’t! Did you think I was stupid? I spend enough time on Earth with the Fantastic Four to recognise the name Victor Von Doom!”

“What does it matter?” he wants to know. “I do not love him – I love you!”

“Do you? You never spend time with me, you never tell me how you’re feeling – you keep everything inside yourself, Pietro, and never let me in!”

 _I try to_ , he wants to tell her. _I try, I do but it’s so hard for me._

“Please do not blame your betrayal on me,” he tells her quietly because he is suddenly very tired of being told he is a bad husband. “If you did not wish to be married any longer, you should have said something but instead you betrayed me and went behind my back.”

Crystal laughs bitterly. “I should have said something, should I? And I suppose you would have listened, would you? You paid me no attention, Pietro – you should not be surprised I sought comfort in the arms of another.”

***

He runs off, after that. He stays with Wanda and Jean and hates himself every minute because he has abandoned his daughter.

Black Bolt and Medusa wanted him to reconcile with Crystal, to pretend that nothing had ever happened, but he couldn’t – he cannot forgive her betrayal and won’t let her just carry on as if she hadn’t hurt him deeply. He knows that he was a bad husband, he understands that, and maybe he should shoulder on through his anger and shame to try and make it work with Crystal – for Luna, at least. But he is not that kind of person, and would it really help his daughter to grow up with parents who are beginning to hate each other?

He thinks the Inhumans are glad to be rid of him – they certainly allowed the annulment of his marriage quickly enough.

Luna is to stay with her mother because she is an Inhuman princess and they think that that means she belongs with them – they wouldn’t want a dirty human like _him_ raising her. He cries about that, because she is his daughter and he loves her more than anything in the world. Crystal isn’t evil though – he knows that when Luna is a bit older she will allow him to visit her (or rather, she will take Luna to visit him because the Inhumans certainly don’t want to see him again).

It is hard – to be around Wanda and Jean. It is like it was before he met Crystal, he is alone again. He feels bad for intruding on their life like this, but he’s only just returned to Earth and hasn’t found an apartment yet. He thinks of re-joining the Avengers, but it just doesn’t feel right.

Wanda and Jean are kind though – kinder than he could ever hope to be. They welcome him into their home wholeheartedly and never show any sign that is bothering them, even when he knows he must be.

Some days he feels overwhelmed by his emotions.

“Am I broken?” he begs of Wanda, one night. “Am I so unlovable? First my soulmate, and now the woman I married? Is something wrong with me?”

“Oh Pietro…” she says, wrapping her arms around him.

“She blamed me,” he tells her. “I know I am not such an open person, but I cannot help it. And she was angry that I lied to her about my soulmate being alive… but what was there to tell her about him? He does not love me, and I do not love him! What did she want me to say?” Wanda – patient and loving as usual – strokes his hair and calms him down. He didn’t realise he was physically vibrating with stress.

On other days he is angry – with Crystal, with himself and with his soulmate.

One day in particular he is enraged at Victor Von Doom, and that is the day Jean approaches him to inform Pietro that Norman Webster has been found dead. She does not use the word _murdered_ but he can reach his own conclusions from the look on her face. Later that day, Wanda says, “It was _him_ , Pietro” – _him_ is how she refers to his worse half – “believe me, he left his mark.” He doesn’t even want to imagine what _that_ entails.

Clearly his soulmate has been playing vigilante – perhaps Doom thought that this would please Pietro. It does not. He does not want bad things to be done in his name, he doesn’t want people to suffer because of him. People died and suffered as a result of his inaction when he was with Magneto, he will never let those things happen again under his watch.

***

A few months later, and Pietro has his own apartment and has joined the government-sponsored team X-Factor. His teammates are all mutants, and all tolerable to be around. He wouldn’t say they are friends, exactly, but he thinks they all like each other well enough. And also there is Polaris – Lorna Dane – a young woman on the team who people assume is also Magento’s daughter because of her ability to control magnetism. She used to be an X-Man before, so he knows about her from Jean and knew about the rumours surrounding her parentage but that was before he found out that Magneto was his own father.

The two of them never really mention the fact that they could share a father – they allude to it between themselves occasionally and treat each other as if they were some relation or another. Truthfully he is quite fond of Lorna – he would be happy to have her as a younger sibling.

But he is more focused on his twin, these days. Wanda is pregnant – through means of her magic. She and Jean are very excited. But Pietro is concerned. He does not trust magic, and he does not understand it. He worries that something will happen to Wanda or her child. He knows that Jean worries too, she tells him as much when they see each other. Jean keeps him updated on his sister’s condition when he is away with X-Factor and he is very grateful for her. He thinks that he couldn’t have a better sister-in-law.

Generally his mood has improved since he and Crystal separated. He didn’t realise how truly unhappy he was with the Inhumans until he left and came back to Earth. And although he misses Luna terribly he knows that he will see her soon – Crystal has decided to join the Avengers and she will be bringing Luna with her to Earth. So soon enough he will be able to see his daughter much more regularly. He hopes when he sees Crystal again she will not mention the untimely death of Norman Webster – if she is even aware of it – he cannot imagine that conversation going well with her once she knows who is responsible for his murder.

Surprisingly, he hasn’t heard anything from his soulmate since he went out and murdered the man who had an affair with Pietro’s wife. Perhaps he senses that Pietro would be less than pleased to hear from him. Good. Pietro hopes he stays away. He thought maybe before the man _murdered_ someone that they were on amicable terms – that maybe… well, it doesn’t matter what he thought now.

Today there is no work needed to be done with X-Factor, so he is trying to seize the day and not stay indoors. He’s wandered into Central Park which isn’t too far from his apartment, though for him nothing is really _too far_. He’s just walking along a path in the park when a young boy slams into him, knocking Pietro to the ground.

Dazed slightly, he looks up at the child standing above him.

Pietro had assumed it to be an accident – that the child had been running and playing and so hadn’t noticed him – but the child’s expression knocks that idea right out of his head.

The child – a boy, seven or so years old – is staring down at him with a scrunched-up look of distaste on his young face. It’s almost amusing, to see such an expression on a child. The boy has a complexion similar to his own and his hair is a dark brown, the hair itself curling around his head and falling around his ears.

The boy places his hands on his hips in a way Pietro has seen his sister do a million times before when she is about to scold him. “Why didn’t you marry my father!” the young boy demands, his dark eyes blazing. “Now he is dead, and it is all your fault!”

Pietro doesn’t think he has ever been so confused in his life.

“I – what?” he manages to stutter out, still awkwardly on the ground.

The boy opens his mouth, clearly about to begin another confusing tirade but is interrupted by a shout coming from behind him. “Kristoff!” someone calls, and the boy flinches and closes his mouth shut as two figures come running towards him.

As they reach Pietro and the boy – Kristoff, apparently – he realises in horror that they are Reed and Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four. And they seem equally as surprised to see him.

“Quicksilver!” Reed says, surprised. He glances between Pietro and Kristoff in confusion, his brow furrowing. Nevertheless, he reaches forward and offers a hand to help Pietro up. Cautiously, he takes it, but he cannot take his eyes of the boy – Kristoff. He knows that Reed and Susan have a son, but he is sure that this boy isn’t him – he looks nothing like either of them, for a start. But even so, the name does tug something at the back of his mind.

“Kristoff!” Susan exclaims, sounding particularly mortified. “Do you know who that is! You cannot attack –”

“Of _course_ I know who it is,” Kristoff says, scathingly. “He is my father’s soulmate.”

 _His father’s soulmate?_ He frowns in confusion, but something _does_ light up in his mind. What had Doom said? _A son – not of my blood, but my son all the same. Kristoff. Older than your daughter – he is six years old, though I have only had him for a year or so._

So _this_ is Kristoff Von Doom. Somehow he is not surprised.

Reed and Susan look as if someone has just slapped them both across the face. Warily, Susan says, “No, Kristoff you must be mistaken this is –”

“Pietro Maximoff. Quicksilver. Twin brother of the Scarlet Witch. Son of Magneto.” Kristoff lists, cutting in. The way he says it is odd, as if he is repeating something someone else has told him many times, which Pietro supposes is exactly the case.

Reed and Susan are exchanging wary and confused glances. He cannot blame them. He would be confused too. In fact he _is_ confused – what is Doctor Doom’s son doing with the Fantastic Four?

However, whilst his apparent guardians are suitably distracted, Kristoff rushes at him again. The child grabs at him desperately with one hand, hitting him with another. It does not hurt, of course – Kristoff is a slight and small boy – but it is very concerning.

“Kristoff!” Reed says, horrified, reaching out to grab the boy but Pietro shakes his head and Reed freezes, his hand outstretched towards them.

Pietro places a restraining hand on the boy’s shoulder, forcing the child to look up at him. “Kristoff,” he says, gently, “is everything okay? Where is your father?”

“He’s dead!” Kristoff snaps, pulling free of Pietro’s grip. “And it’s all _your_ fault! He was your soulmate, but you weren’t _there_ … if you’d been there, then maybe… maybe…” Kristoff trails off, choked up and suddenly there are tears streaming down his cheeks.

The poor boy is sobbing, and Reed, Susan and Pietro are just standing around him, completely clueless as to what they should do. Well, Reed and Susan are clueless about what to do, Pietro is just clueless about _everything_. He had no idea that Doom was killed. _Was_ he killed? He hasn’t paid attention to the name on his wrist for a long time, but he’s sure he would have noticed if the name had faded? He checks, to make sure.

It’s still pitch black, proof of life.

“Kristoff,” he says, kneeling down in front of the child so he is eye level with the boy. “Kristoff,” he says again, because the boy turns away from him. “Your father is not dead – I don’t know where he is, or what happened but I can promise you he is alive somewhere.”

Kristoff looks at him suspiciously, sniffling sadly as he wipes an arm across his eyes, “How do you know?”

“Look,” he says, showing Kristoff his bare wrist with Doom’s name. “See? It’s not faded – he’s alive.”

Kristoff reaches out a hand hesitantly to brush his fingers across the name, and a slow smile spreads across his face. He spins on his heel, rushing towards Reed and Susan who are standing there still looking completely bewildered. “Doctor Richards!” the boy exclaims, tugging on Reed’s sleeve. “We must go and look for my father! Come on – we must get to your base quickly so we can start straight away! Quicksilver can come with us!”

“Uh…” Reed blinks in surprise, looking up at Pietro and then back down at Kristoff. “Yes I suppose we should do that… do you wish to join us, Pietro?”

He wants to say no. He should say no. He doesn’t care about Doom. He doesn’t.

But he thinks of Kristoff in tears only seconds ago, and of the boy’s joyful face now, and knows he has to say yes.

***

Pietro does not know why he agreed to this. He has never felt so awkward in his life – not even when he was with the Inhumans.

He is standing in the laboratory of Reed Richards inside the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building. Reed himself is occupied with a bunch of screens that display information and maps and a million other things Pietro doesn’t understand. Kristoff Von Doom – and he _still_ hasn’t received an explanation about why Doctor Doom’s son is with the Fantastic Four – is by his side, chatting away excitedly to Reed. If there is one thing he has learnt in the few hours since meeting Kristoff, it’s that the boy is as much a genius as his father.

Reed and Kristoff are not what makes him feel awkward. What makes him shift uncomfortably in the middle of the laboratory where he stands is the stares and whispers of the other members of the Fantastic Four. Jonathan Storm and Benjamin Grimm clearly are under the impression that they have never met such an interesting specimen – he feels slightly like a zoo animal under their gaze. Susan watches him too – but her gaze is more thoughtful, as if she is assessing whether he is a threat. Perhaps she thinks he is secretly an agent of Doom’s come to wreak havoc on her family.

Later in the day, and Reed and Kristoff have turned up nothing of importance as to the whereabouts of Doctor Doom. Kristoff does not seem disheartened, though. Clearly the hope Pietro gave him when he told him his father is alive will not diminish with one failed search. And even though Pietro was the one to comfort the boy and tell him Doom is alive, he still is not viewed as a friendly face in Kristoff’s eyes. Many times he catches the child glaring at him or watching him distastefully as if he is something much below Kristoff himself – a cockroach, perhaps.

When he is about to leave for the night, Reed corners him in the laboratory. Everyone else has left for other places – Kristoff had been sent to bed, Susan had gone to deal with her own son whilst Benjamin Grimm and Jonathan Storm had retired to do whatever it is the two of them do in their free time. So it is just Pietro and Reed in the lab.

“Pietro,” the man says, appearing suddenly from behind him. “I have something for you.”

Unceremoniously – and without explanation – Reed shoves a picture frame into Pietro’s hands.

Pietro stares down at it, interested. The frame is cold metal in his hands, but the photograph inside jumps out at him. It shows Reed – younger, and without grey in his hair – and another fair-haired man grinning at the camera. But what stands out to him is the young man in the corner of the picture. He is not facing the camera and appears almost like a silent shadow focused on whatever he was doing at the time it was taken.

“This photo is from my days at ESU,” Reed says none too helpfully. “That’s me and Ben – before we got out powers, obviously. I know it’s not a very good picture because he isn’t even facing the camera but…”

Stupidly, he says, “I don’t understand.”

Reed takes pity on him, reaching out and laying a hand on Pietro’s wrist – where his soulmate’s name lies under his sleeve. And then he brings that same hand and moves it back to the picture, pointing at the man facing away from the camera.

“That’s Victor,” Reed explains to him gently – as if he is a child, which perhaps he does seem like, to Reed. “That’s your soulmate.”

Pietro looks back again at the picture as if it is his first time viewing it. Every tiny detail he had passed over before suddenly seems like the most important thing in the world. He has seen Victor Von Doom’s face before – once, as it is now – but he does not remember much except that it was very scarred. The young man in the picture does not all resemble the man he knows as Doctor Doom. The man in the picture is distant – he wants to be a part of the comradery that Reed and Benjamin share in their smiles, but he doesn’t know to be. He is lonely, and he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pietro cannot explain how he sees all those things in a photograph where the man isn’t even looking directly at the camera, but he just does – some sort of innate knowledge, perhaps.

A part of his heart aches, looking at the picture. _This man is my soulmate, but he does not exist anymore._

Abruptly, he shoves the picture back at Reed. “Thank you,” he manages, his eyes burning because he feels suddenly as if he might cry.

“No,” Reed pushes it gently back into his hands. “This is yours. I want you to keep it. I kept it all these years because sometimes I need reminding of who Victor is – need hope that he can be that man once again. But I think perhaps you need that hope more than I do.”

Pietro swallows deeply – he is touched, truly. He doesn’t think anyone has ever done something so kind for him before. No one that knows who his soulmate is really _understands_ what it is like. Wanda and Jean only ever look at him in pity – and his father too, the time he had told Pietro the truth – they look at him like he is something of a lost cause.

“Thank you,” he manages, bringing the framed photograph up to his chest – cradling it close to his heart.

Reed smiles kindly at him. “Go put that somewhere safe, Pietro, and I will tell you everything I remember about Victor Von Doom.”

It is Reed Richards – who, for all intents and purposes, is Doom’s greatest adversary – that teaches him the distinction between _Victor_ and _Doom_.

***

Months later, and Wanda gives birth to twins – two boys – that she and Jean name William and Thomas. The two boys are calm children and Pietro hardly ever hears them scream or cry. He visits his sister often, and every time she is full of wide smiles. She seems so happy and content with life – the burdens and troubles of parenthood do not seem to faze her at all. That worries him, he fears that maybe she is keeping her feelings bottled up the way he is like to do, but Jean reassures him that Wanda is fine, so he tries not to focus on those fears.

In the meantime, he has other worries – Doctor Doom has returned to the world stage.

In other circumstances, Pietro might have even been glad. Ever since Reed Richards took the time to tell him everything about Pietro’s soulmate – Victor, not Doom – he has been silently, secretly, holding onto some ridiculous hope that maybe they could make something work between the two of them. He has seen the human side of Doom before – he had relayed to Reed every one of their encounters and the man had been surprised. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Victor admit he was wrong before,” Reed had said. “And the simple fact he didn’t interfere between yourself and Crystal is quite an impressive display of his self-control – Victor is quite possessive, I’m sure you realised this in the way he speaks about soulmates. So that he let you continue with your marriage to her – even congratulating you on the birth of your daughter and giving her a personal gift says a lot. And telling you about Kristoff – however briefly – shows his trust in you, even _we_ had no idea about the boy, and we have hours of surveillance coming out of Latveria.”

And so a sort of hope had sprung up inside of him. But now that Doctor Doom has returned and made his presence known by _kidnapping Franklin Richards_ , that hope has been suitably dashed.

It is Kristoff who tells him about it. He returns home one day to find the child _inside his apartment_.

Pietro is just standing in the middle of his living room, holding onto the bag of groceries he had gone out to fetch, watching the child sit at his kitchen counter with Pietro’s radio taken apart on the counter in front of him. He doesn’t quite know what to say.

“Hello,” Kristoff says, not turning around to greet him. “Did you get some food? I’m hungry and your cupboards are empty.”

He contemplates telling the boy to leave but decides against it. He sighs deeply at the lot he has been giving in life, which apparently extends to feeding the child of his soulmate who has just upped and disappeared.

He appears in the kitchen suddenly – using his speed – which startles Kristoff. The boy jumps in his seat slightly and looks up to give him a distasteful look.

“How did you get in here?” Pietro asks, as he puts away his groceries.

“I broke in – the lock on your door is abysmal, by the way.”

Pietro sighs – he isn’t sure what he expected, really. “You shouldn’t break into people’s homes, Kristoff.”

The boy shrugs, hunched back over the parts of Pietro’s radio which he has dismantled for whatever reason. Pietro looks at the parts of his radio mournfully, “And you shouldn’t destroy people’s property.”

Kristoff’s head snaps up, affronted. “I haven’t destroyed it! I have _fixed_ it! But I wouldn’t expect _you_ to understand that – father tells me you have no education.”

Pietro clenches his jaw. “Well I apologise that I am not suitably _educated_ to his standards, but where I grew up I was not _allowed_ to go to school.”

“Why not?” Kristoff is looking at him again – not in a disdainful way, but with a curious and confused expression.

He sighs – he must remind himself that Kristoff is only a child and is in no way responsible for the opinions of his father. “In Transia,” he explains, pulling up a seat to sit opposite the boy at the counter. “The people who were in charge of the government did not want people like me – the Romani – to attend school. They did not even want us in their country.”

He expects Kristoff to ask why, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says, “I understand. It used to be like that in Latveria too, before my father took power. I wasn’t born then, obviously, but Boris tells me about it – Boris is my grandfather, by the way.” He is quiet for a few seconds, watching Pietro’s face and sensing that his explanation is not quite sufficient. “We are Rom too – father, Boris and I – I don’t know if he ever told you that.”

“He didn’t.” Pietro thinks of his parents – Marya and Django – and how they fretted that his soulmate might not be one of _them_. Their minds would be put to rest if they knew that Victor Von Doom was indeed Rom – too bad he is still a supervillain.

“And he didn’t talk about your lack of education in a _mean_ way,” Kristoff continues, waving a screwdriver in the air as he speaks. “He was just answering a question I asked him, because I asked him if you were a scientist like him, but he said that you didn’t go to school so probably not. That’s okay though, Boris didn’t go to school either and he doesn’t like science like we do. He says it is boring and ridiculously complicated – which is true, I guess.” Then Kristoff’s face brightens, “Oh! Did you get something to eat, by the way?”

He blinks at the sudden change in topic, but answers nevertheless. “I can make something for you – if you’re hungry. I’m not the best cook so I apologise in advance. My speed makes it hard to wait, and cooking involves a lot of waiting. But I’m sure something simple like Macaroni Cheese will be fine.”

“I don’t know what this is, but I’m sure it will be sufficient – father tells me that American food is abysmal, anyways.”

He bites his lip to stop himself from smiling. When he is not attacking or being passive aggressive, Kristoff can be quite a charming child.

Whilst he gets about to cooking food for the two of them, he asks something that has been on his mind since he found the boy inside his apartment. “Should I be calling the Fantastic Four, Kristoff? Do they know where you are?”

Kristoff breaks into a smile. “Oh, no – I’m not staying with them anymore. Father has returned, did you not know?”

“Oh,” he says, because he’s not really sure how he feels about that. It’s not that he _expects_ Doom – Victor – to contact him as soon as he returned but, well… okay – that’s exactly what he expected, so he is slightly disappointed.

“He told me to come here, actually,” Kristoff says casually as if it is normal to send young children to stranger’s houses. Pietro isn’t a stranger, really, but the sentiment is the same. “It is Midsummer’s Eve, you see – and every year on this day father fights the demon Mephisto to reclaim his mother’s soul from hell – obviously he did not want me near that monster, so he told me to come here where he thought I would be safe.”

He shouldn’t feel _pleased_ that Victor sees his home as a safe place for his son, but the feeling wells up in his chest nonetheless.

“And this year,” Kristoff continues, excitedly, “Father is _sure_ to best Mephisto because he has the power of Franklin Richards on his side!”

Pietro almost drops the bowl he’s holding. “He has _what_?” 

Kristoff looks at him oddly. “Franklin Richards – the son of Doctor and Mrs Richards. He is a powerful mutant, you know.”

“But he’s a _child_!” Pietro says, still in shock. “He’s even younger than you, Kristoff! He has no place in battle – especially against a _demon_! And there is no way the Fantastic Four would ever allow such a thing to happen so –” He cuts off, in horror. “Kristoff, please tell me that your father hasn’t _kidnapped_ the child?”

Kristoff looks down and shifts awkwardly in his seat.

“Kristoff!”

“Well the Fantastic Four wouldn’t let father take him!” Kristoff says, defensively. “He _did_ ask!”

Pietro closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. _Kristoff is just a child, he doesn’t understand the things his father does is wrong, I can’t get annoyed at him, it isn’t his fault._

“Kristoff,” he says, calmly, “Do you see why the Fantastic Four did not agree to handing over their child like that? Mephisto is a dangerous and powerful demon – he must be, otherwise your father would have bested him already. And Franklin is a powerful mutant, yes, but he’s still a _child_ – he could _die_ , do you understand?”

Kristoff bites his lip. “But father is there to look out for him – he wouldn’t let Franklin get hurt… even if Franklin _is_ very whiny and annoying.”

“But your father is not all-powerful, Kristoff. _Anything_ could happen with Mephisto. He shouldn’t endanger a child like that, he should know better!”

_Why does he do these things? How could he put a child in danger like that! He of all people must know the dangers and evil of Mephisto and yet he would still bring a child into this mess? How reckless can one person be?_

Kristoff suddenly looks very small. “You don’t think Franklin is hurt, do you? I… I know I said he is whiny and annoying, but I don’t want anything to happen to him! Pietro you have to go check on him! They are in Latveria, in the Castle – I’m sure the Fantastic Four are there already but you need to make sure Franklin is okay!”

He turns the oven off, leaving the pot on the hob. “Of course I’ll go check, Kristoff. I’ll only be gone for a few minutes, I promise. Stay here.”

He runs.

Castle Doom is partially destroyed when he arrives. He picks his way through the ruins, trying to find a hint of where Doom or the Fantastic Four could be. He spots their plane in the distance and moves toward it. He waits a few seconds, before setting off again in another direction.

Suddenly, he sees them – they’re leaving the Castle. He runs over to them.

“Reed!” He exclaims. “Kristoff just told me about Franklin I –”

He stops in surprise, because _Crystal_ is with the Fantastic Four.

Reed notices his shock and takes pity on him. “Franklin is fine, thank heavens. Doom planned to use Franklin’s power to rescue his mother from hell – I sympathise with him, I do, but I will not allow my son to be put in danger like that.”

“Of course,” he says. “So Franklin is truly okay? Kristoff was worried about him.”

“Kristoff?” Reed raises his eyebrows in surprise. “You have seen him? I am glad – we worried because we did not see him here.”

Pietro hesitates before saying, “Yes… Victor sent him to my apartment, I do not think he wanted Kristoff around Mephisto.”

Susan laughs bitterly. “Well I am glad to know he is not so reckless with the life of his _own_ child.” She has Franklin on her hip and pulls him close to her as she says this. “I worry for him – Kristoff, that is – it cannot be good for him to grow up with such a man for a father.”

Jonathan shrugs, reaching over to ruffle Franklin’s hair, “Well there’s nothing you can really do about that, sis. Besides, Kristoff’s smart – I think he can look after himself. And Doom probably has, like, _a billion_ servants around here anyways that actually look after the kid.”

Susan looks down at her own son, “Yes… I suppose that’s true.”

“Are you all _insane_?” Crystal demands, suddenly. “Doom just kidnapped your son, Sue, and it’s like you don’t even care! And now I’m hearing he has his own child that you all know about and just let him keep? What is _wrong_ with you all?”

“Now, Crystal,” Reed says, reasonably. “We can’t exactly just _take_ his son away from him – we don’t have that right. And for all Victor’s faults, I believe he loves his son. He kept him away from this mess today, didn’t he?”

“That doesn’t change the fact he kidnapped your son and you aren’t even going to punish him for it!”

“Crystal,” Susan says, tiredly. “I hate him for what he did to Franklin – for what could have happened to my baby boy – but we are in Latveria right now. Doom could have trapped us here, but he allowed us to leave. Frankly all I want right now is to go home and spend some time with my son.”

Crystal’s gaze slides away from Susan, landing on Pietro. “I hope you do not expect the same lenience from me if that monster ever hurts Luna. If he lays hands on her, I will kill him.”

“And you think I wouldn’t?” Pietro demands. “Luna is my daughter; I would do _anything_ for her!” He hesitates, before adding, “But you needn’t worry about that… I do not think he would ever harm her.”

She lets out bitter sound. “Well, he is _your_ soulmate – I suppose you know him better than I.”

He watches the Fantastic Four leave in their plane, watches the white shape disappear from sight. He debates going back into the Castle, to find Victor and shake some sort of sense into him. But really he is too angry with the man to do even that. And he has to reassure Kristoff, anyway.

“Franklin is safe,” He tells the boy when he returns to his apartment. “His parents have him – though I can only assume that whatever battle your father had with Mephisto ended in failure.”

“Oh,” Kristoff says, quietly. “I am glad that Franklin is okay, but now father will be sad. I don’t like it when he’s sad, he spends all night in his laboratory, and he will not speak to Boris or even me.”

Pietro pauses. “You could stay here tonight, if you’d like. I have a guest room that my sister uses when she stays here.”

Kristoff brightens, “Really?”

He nods, and the boy jumps down from his seat to give him a quick hug. “I will send a message to Boris, so he does not worry.”

Pietro furrows his brow, “How will you do that?”

“I told you!” Kristoff says, as if he is stupid for asking. “I fixed your radio – it can tune into my father’s frequency now, which we use to communicate if we are apart and need to leave each other important messages.” He gestures to Pietro’s radio which has been all put back together in one piece. “You should try listening to the other Latverian stations, by the way – it will help you learn our language.”

He restrains himself from asking _why would I need to learn Latverian_ because he is starting to get the impression that maybe Kristoff does not know the nature of Pietro’s relationship with his father. Perhaps Kristoff thinks they are in love, but just not together for whatever reason. Which isn’t true, obviously. But he doesn’t want to put the boy’s mood down, so he just nods and smiles.

If Kristoff has hope… then maybe Pietro can have hope too.

***

_A few nights later and he finds himself dreaming of Castle Doom. This time, he is in an ordered garden with bushes and trees and flowers all in perfect condition. The Castle is at his back, and past the gardens is the beginnings of a deep forest._

_“I must thank you for taking care of Kristoff,” Victor says – he’s not far from Pietro but is studying a stone statue of a woman with angelic features; wings and a crown of leaves. “He quite likes you – he does not see many people outside of the Castle.”_

_“Kristoff is a good boy; it was no hardship.”_

_“Yes, I am glad to be with him again.” Victor straightens up, turning to face him. “This statue is of my mother, I commissioned it from a Latverian architect. I find it ironic – she has angel wings, and yet her soul has been condemned to hell for all eternity.”_

_Warily, he says, “Kristoff told me you fight Mephisto once every year for her soul.”’_

_Victor seems surprised. “Yes. I imagine he does it to torment me, but I cannot let my mother’s soul be tortured in that place and so I am forced to play by his rules every year.”_

_“Why is her soul damned to hell? What happened to her?”_

_“She was a sorceress. Mephisto promised her power to help stop the persecution of our people in Latveria, but she did not understand the cost of that power was her soul. Mephisto only promised her power, he did not promise her control and ultimately it cost Cynthia Von Doom her life as well as her soul. I have tried to reclaim her soul for years but alas…”_

_Quietly, he says, “I understand that you want your mother’s soul to rest in peace, but you should not have involved Franklin Richards in your battle. He’s a child. He could have been killed.”_

_Victor tenses. “I do not need to explain myself to you, Pietro Maximoff.”_

_“I wasn’t asking for an explanation. I just wish that –”_

_“You wish what?” Victor demands. “You wish I was a good person? A hero? I am a villain; you would do well to remember that. I will not bow to your morals. I would not have let any harm befall Franklin Richards – the Fantastic Four should have given him to me when I asked and none of this trouble would have happened and my mother’s soul would be free.”_

_He gets the impression that it is no use to continue down that avenue, so instead he says, “You murdered Norman Webster, before you disappeared.”_

_Victor looks surprised at the change in topic, but replies nevertheless. “Yes, I did – your wife betrayed you with that man. A random human man. He should have known not to sleep with a married woman – I did what you wished you could have done, do not lie and tell me otherwise. I am your soulmate; I know your deepest desires.”_

_It’s true that when he found out about Crystal’s affair he wanted to hurt Norman – kill him, even. But he would never have gone through with it. He is not a murderer. “I wished him dead, it’s true – but only because I did not want to face my own mistakes as a husband. You should not have killed him – he wasn’t an evil man, just in love with someone he shouldn’t have been, and he certainly did not deserve to die for it. Please do not do something like that again – I carry enough guilt without shouldering the responsibility for your crimes too.”_

_Victor studies him for a few moments. “You are quite mature for your age – certainly more mature than any of your fellow heroes. Very well, I will not kill anyone else in your name if it displeases you so.”_

_A relief settles over him, and he manages a smile. “Now, if only you weren’t a villain…”_

_“I cannot help you there, I’m afraid,” Victor says, almost amused. “I will not compromise my ambitions, not even for you.”_

_“And I will not compromise my morals,” he returns, equally, “so I suppose we are at a stalemate.”_

_“Yes, I suppose we are.”_

_***_

One evening, Pietro is awoken by incessant knocking on his door during the middle of the night. He is forced to get up and open the door – cursing the whole way – and is surprised to see it is Crystal on the other side, Luna in her arms.

He squints in the darkness. “Crystal, what are you doing here at this time of night?”

“Pietro!” She sounds frantic, and he suddenly takes in her mused hair and panicked expression. “You need to take Luna for a few days, I… I do not think she is safe with me at the moment.”

He stares in confusion, though accepts his daughter when she is pushed into his arms. Luna is three years old and fits comfortably into his arms still. “What happened?”

“Someone broke into the Mansion,” She means Avengers Mansion, as she is back with the Avengers at the moment and not with the Fantastic Four. “They got into my room – where Luna slept – and her crying woke me up. They meant to kill her, or take her but… but something protected her, I don’t know what it was, but it _killed_ the assailant.”

His eyes drift to the golden bangle sitting innocuously on Luna’s wrist, a gift from Victor. He never told Crystal the truth about who it came from, and he thanks God that he never did. If she knew the truth she certainly would have taken it off her, and she might be dead right now. He shivers, squeezing her a little tighter. He supposes he will accept this death that Victor is responsible for, Pietro was not exaggerating when he told Crystal that he would do anything for his daughter.

“It was the bangle,” Pietro tells her, hoping perhaps to ease her worries. “It was a gift from my sister, and it is enchanted with her magic – a protection spell – I have never seen it in action before… I did not know it was so powerful.”

Crystal’s eyes drift to the bangle too, a relief apparent in her eyes. “I did think it was glowing when I took her out of her bed, but I thought it to be a trick of the light.” She grips Pietro’s arm suddenly, “You must thank Wanda for me, I know she probably does not have any love for me anymore, so I do not wish to approach her myself, but I still need her to know how deeply I am in her debt! I dare not even think what could have happened to our little girl if not for her!”

He reassures Crystal that of course he will pass her thanks along to Wanda, and they discuss briefly that she will come and pick Luna back up in about a week’s time – or as soon as she deems Avengers Mansion to be safe again.

Pietro takes Luna inside, tucking her into bed and sitting by her bedside. He runs his finger along the gold bangle that saved her life and wonders how he will ever be able to repay Victor Von Doom for this gift. He cannot even thank him as he has no way to contact the man.

He falls asleep on Luna’s bed, his mind occupied with thoughts of his soulmate.

***

Another night, and it is Jean who he finds desperate and broken at the door of his apartment.

Luna is still with him, and he had just tucked her into bed when the knocking had started. He’d left her in her room to answer the door. He had been half-afraid that it would be Crystal at the door – come to take Luna away – but instead it had been his sister-in-law. In any other circumstance he would have welcomed her with open arms, but Jean is not her usual smiling self.

“Pietro, thank God!” She cries, when he opens the door, and his balance is offset slightly when she throws herself into his arms in tears.

Concerned, he takes her shoulders gently and pushes her back so he can assess her. “Jean, are you okay? Has something happened to my sister, or your sons?”

Jean can’t seem to get the words out, however. She just stands in some sort of shock on his doorstep, her eyes wide and lost and red with tears. Slightly bewildered about what to do, he stands aside and gestures for her to come in.

She trails after him into the apartment, silently, and stands in the living area whilst he checks to make sure Luna is still safe in her bed. When he comes back, Jean has sat down on his sofa. She’s staring blankly at the wall.

He doesn’t quite know what to do. He’s sure that if his sister was in immediate danger, Jean would have said something. He wonders if maybe Wanda is dead, and he is forced to check the name on Jean’s wrist to assuage his fears. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees his sister’s name is not faded. Not sure what else to do, he goes into the kitchen and boils the kettle. He thinks maybe Jean just needs some time to put her thoughts together.

He pours two cups of tea – he never drinks coffee, caffeine sends him slightly loopy – and brings them into the living area, setting them down on the coffee table. Jean breaks her staring contest with the wall, her eyes sliding down to the mugs. He presses one into her hands, and she grips it tightly. “Careful,” he chides, “You’ll burn yourself.”

Hoarsely, Jean says, “Nothing could hurt more than _this_.” 

“More than _what_?” He asks, slightly desperately, because his mind is racing through endless possibilities of horrible things that could have happened.

“Our babies…” she murmurs, breaking his gaze again to look elsewhere. “Billy and Tommy…”

“Jean!” He says loudly, urgently. “What has happened? Are the children okay?”

She shakes her head, and bursts into tears again. He moves to sit next to her, taking the mug out of her hands and putting it back down on the table. “Jean,” he begs, “please tell me what has happened.”

Slowly, she tells him.

William and Thomas – children that Pietro has held in his arms half a million times by now – were not _real_. Or they were real in the sense that Wanda wanted them to be, so they were. But they were not real human children. The way Jean explains it, they were just manifestations of Wanda’s desires for a family. Her powers created them out of Wanda’s want for children, and when they were ‘born’ her powers searched for something akin to a human soul to give them but of course such a thing did not exist – not even Wanda could create two human souls. Instead, her powers latched onto two pieces of Mephisto’s soul (the demon’s soul had recently been split into several pieces) and when the demon came searching for the pieces, he absorbed what had brought William and Thomas to life causing them to cease existing.

Pietro is speechless. What can he say in response to such a story? William and Thomas may have not been ‘real’ but that is only a recent discovery, up until now he believed them to be his little nephews. They weren’t just magical puppets housing a demon’s soul, they were _people_ and they had personalities and even as babies the resemblance to both parents could be pointed out. He cannot comfort Jean, there is nothing he can say that will ease the loss of a child.

“What… what about my sister?” he asks, quietly. “How is she taking this?”

Jean looks at him guiltily. “That woman – Agatha Harkness – she… she erased Wanda’s memories of them. She’s at home now, still asleep. When she wakes up she won’t remember that she ever had two babies named William and Thomas. It is cruel and unethical, but Agatha did it without my permission and I cannot undo her magic, not even as a telepath. She feared that Wanda would lose control of her powers… you know how unstable they can be.”

He closes his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Jean.”

“I wish Agatha had taken my memories, too,” Jean whispers. “How am I supposed to act like everything is okay in front of Wanda? She will know that I am upset. How am I supposed to even carry on? This morning I had two beautiful baby boys, and tonight I have nothing.”

“You have my sister.” He reminds her, gently.

Jean looks down at her soulmate’s name, as if to reassure herself that she _does_ still have Wanda – that her wife has not just disappeared from existence the way their children had. “I should get home,” she says to him, sighing. “I do not want Wanda to wake up alone. I just had to tell you; I know you loved them too. But from now on we cannot mention William and Thomas in front of her… I fear that penetrating the block on her memories in such a way may damage her mind.”

“Of course.”

Jean stays until she has drunk all her tea. As the two of them sit there, she talks about her children that do not exist anymore. He is happy to sit and listen to her, interjecting occasionally, because he can tell that she needs this. She needs to get everything off of her chest because when she walks out of his apartment she will have to live the rest of her life as if her children never existed at all.

As she leaves, he hugs her tightly. He is not really one for hugging, generally, but his sister-in-law is. She grips him firmly, as if he too will fade away under her touch.

When she is gone, he goes back into Luna’s room. He sits by her bedside for several hours. He feels like he cannot look away from her. Pietro cannot even imagine what he would do, if something similar happened to his daughter. He thinks that he would break into a million pieces. How strong must his sister-in-law be, to still be standing after such a blow? The only comfort he can find in the situation is that Jean will not be alone – she has her soulmate… even if Wanda will not remember her children and may not understand Jean’s sadness in the coming days and months.

 _I wish I had a relationship like that,_ he thinks as he falls asleep, _why can’t we be together like them?_

***

Crystal never comes back to collect Luna. He assumes she is just busy with Avengers work but he enquires after her anyway.

At the mansion, Jarvis tells him that yes she is indeed away on a mission right now. A day later, and he has Steve Rogers at his door telling him that Crystal was killed in the battle with the psionic entity known as Onslaught.

He feels slightly numb when the man leaves – he doesn’t quite know how to feel. He has no love for Crystal anymore, but he loved her once. To hear that she is dead still strikes something in him. And even if he will not particularly miss her, his daughter will. To lose a mother is heart-breaking, and Luna is so young…

He quits X-Factor the same day – with Crystal gone, Luna’s guardianship falls to him and he will need to be available for her 24/7.

Pietro tries to explain it to Luna, he sits her down and strokes her hair and tells her that her mother has passed on. It is the hardest thing he has ever done in his life. Luna climbs into his lap and sobs and he comforts her the best he can. He feels slightly empty, he feels that he is not fit to be a parent because really he has not spent that long with Luna. He feels like part of this is his fault. If he had been a good husband to Crystal then none of this would have ever happened and the three of them would be alive and living happily on the Moon.

A part of him whispers, _would you have been though? Would you have been happy living like that? You were miserable with the Inhumans._

Another part whispers _it doesn’t matter, I would have suffered in misery as long as Luna was safe and happy._

It doesn’t matter, really. He cannot change the past; he can only look to the future.

***

One morning he is out with Luna in Central Park. Luna has recently moved into an animal phase and so he has brought her out to visit Central Park Zoo. Luna is sitting on his shoulders and she is smiling, and he is glad – he feared that she would never smile again after the death of Crystal.

They stop for lunch, sitting at a picnic bench together. He is so focused on his daughter that he doesn’t even notice it when someone else sits and joins them.

“Who’re you?” Luna says, curiously, her sandwich halfway to her mouth. He jumps in surprise to realise she is addressing a blonde woman who has sat down on the bench slightly away from him.

He is even more surprised to realise the woman is Susan Richards.

“I’m a friend,” Susan replies, in answer to Luna’s question. His daughter doesn’t seem satisfied by such an answer, but he gives her a look and she stays silent, focusing instead on her sandwich again.

He turns to Susan, “Is everything okay?”

“Not really,” she answers, and he notices how tired she sounds. “The Fantastic Four were involved in a fight in Latveria recently, Doom kidnapped Benjamin for whatever reason and so we flew out to get him back. But whilst we were there an alien entity appeared and attacked both Doom and the team. Doom managed to teleport the entity into deep space, but he was gravely injured in doing so. And – and he tricked Reed into helping him as he lay dying on the floor and when Reed reached out to do so he… he destroyed them both!”

Even as she recounts the events there are tears in her eyes. She looks incredibly stressed and upset – he remembers suddenly that she has a child too, though he cannot recall how old Franklin must be now. As he watches Susan pull herself together again, he finds anger rising in him directed at Victor.

 _Why does he do these things?_ He thinks to himself desperately. _Why does he dedicate his genius and talents towards tormenting these good people?_

Then he says, because somehow it had not occurred to him before, “But Victor isn’t dead.” He even shows Susan his soulmates name, as proof.

Susan looks relieved. “Reed’s name is still on my wrist too, but I just thought… I don’t know I thought maybe I was going slightly insane. But if yours is still there too then he _must_ be alive.”

Pietro wonders if he should feel the same relief she does. He supposes that he and Susan are very different people – she and Reed love each other deeply and have been together for years, they have a family together. He and Victor are just two people whose lives brush together every so often to remind themselves that they are soulmates and that nothing will ever come of that.

“There’s been reports,” Susan starts, “sightings – of Doom, in Latveria. I have no idea where Reed could be, but if it really _is_ Doom then maybe he might know where my soulmate is.”

He sees where she is going with this. “And you want me to go with you?”

Susan looks at him hopefully, “Pietro, if it is Doom I don’t think he will tell me anything but maybe if you’re there…”

“Susan,” he sighs, “I’m sorry. I – I want to help you; I do, but I have Luna to worry about now. I can’t leave her randomly on a whim… she needs stability after what happened to her mother.”

“I understand,” She says, and he feels like she _does_ understand – she’s a parent too, after all. “I’ll update you if I find anything.” She pauses, breaking eye contact to watch Luna sitting there idly eating sandwiches. “Actually… I wonder if I could ask you a favour.”

“Of course.”

“Kristoff,” she says. “We took him back from Latveria with us… he was understandably distraught at what happened to his father, but we couldn’t leave him there alone. I don’t think he will be comfortable staying at the Baxter Building, especially if Reed and I aren’t there. Do you think –”

“Yes,” he cuts in. “I’ll take him in, don’t worry.”

She looks relieved, a smile spreading across her face for the first time since she sat down. “Thank you, that’ll be one less thing to worry about. I’ll bring him round tomorrow morning, if that’s okay?”

He nods and she says her goodbyes, even taking her time to say goodbye to Luna before she leaves.

That night – as he puts Luna to bed – she asks him, “Daddy, who’s Victor?”

He contemplates lying to her but decides against it. “My soulmate.”

“Oh,” she says. Then, “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” he answers, honestly.

She seems disgruntled with that non-answer and tries again, “Who’s Kris… Kris…” She looks up at him for help and he laughs.

“Kristoff,” he corrects. “And he’s Victor’s son. He… he’s going to be staying with us for a while whilst his father is away.”

Luna contemplates this. “Is his daddy dead? Is that why he’s staying with us?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “He’s just… missing.”

“Oh.” Luna looks slightly disheartened and he realises that maybe she wants to meet someone who has lost a parent the way she has.

“Kristoff’s mother died too,” he tells her, hoping to hear her speak of Crystal because she barely mentions her mother to him, and he’s worried she’s bottling all her feelings up inside her the way he himself does. “It happened when he was just a bit older than you, and then he lived with his dad too, like you.” He doesn’t mention that Victor is not Kristoff’s actual father because he thinks that will only confuse Luna.

Luna looks up at him, “Do you think he misses his mommy too?”

His heart aches, “Yes I think he probably does.” He pauses, “Do you miss mommy, Luna?”

She nods, and he leans down to embrace her. “You’ve been such a strong girl, Luna – I’m so proud of you. It’s okay to be sad about mommy, though. If you ever want to speak about her, you can – maybe you can even speak to Kristoff about her, hmm?”

His daughter wipes her eyes and nods determinedly, “I’m gonna tell him all about mommy and then he can tell me all about his mommy and then we can draw pictures of us with them, so we don’t forget.”

He leans down and kisses her hair, “I think that is a very nice idea, Luna.”

***

True to her word, Susan Richards is at his door just before noon with Kristoff in tow. She does not stay long, and he wishes her luck finding her soulmate as she leaves.

Kristoff does not have much – barely a bag full of things – but Pietro shows him to the room Luna has been using. For the moment he has moved Luna into his own room so that Kristoff has his own space; his daughter is young enough that she does not need her own room, really.

The first thing the boy does is demand to see his father’s name on Pietro’s wrist. “Mrs Richards told me that my father is not really dead,” he says, and Pietro is struck with how similar this situation is to when he first met the child. “Prove it to me.”

Amused, Pietro shows him Victor’s name and Kristoff inspects it closely. “I wonder where he is,” the boy muses, seeming unconcerned now that he knows his father is alive. “Perhaps he was transported to another dimension or an alternate Earth.”

Pietro has nothing to say to that because he has no idea where Victor could be and frankly does not particularly care. He is still angry that the man tricked Reed into helping him, only to kill them both. It doesn’t matter that the two of them are still alive somewhere, because it was certainly Victor’s intention for them to die.

At the same time he feels slightly guilty for not caring more than he does. If their situations were reversed would Victor go looking for him? _Probably_ , he thinks, _but not out of any sort of love – he’d do it because he thinks I am his responsibility_. 

Well, Pietro doesn’t share the same sentiment. He’s sure that his life would be 100x less complicated if Victor _were_ dead. A pity he isn’t.

~~That’s a lie.~~

***

Thankfully, Kristoff and Luna get on quite well. Pietro isn’t too sure what he would have done if that hadn’t been the case but luckily he doesn’t need to worry about that because they seem to have imprinted onto one another very quickly. He supposes it is something about being children whose parents are dead and absent respectively and who are both not quite used to interacting with other children.

As his daughter promised, the two of them are sitting at the coffee table drawing pictures. Luna is drawing with coloured pencils but Kristoff with a normal pencil; Pietro has learnt that Kristoff is quite the artist. Luna seems to think so too because she watches him draw in silent fascination.

“You should draw your daddy,” Luna tells him on one such occasion. “You must miss him.”

Kristoff looks up at her, caught slightly off guard. “Yes… I – I do miss him. I can’t draw him, though – I’ve never seen his face.”

Pietro – who is sitting on the sofa watching the two of them – startles so badly he knocks the table which causes Luna to glare at him. “Daddy you jogged me!”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmurs, but he can’t take his eyes off of Kristoff who has gone back to his own drawing unphased. Pietro knew that Victor wore his mask of course – knew that no one had really seen his face – but he never knew that he insisted on wearing it around his own son!

Luna – who does not know that Kristoff’s father is actually Doctor Doom or even know who Doctor Doom is – stares at her drawing companion in confusion. “What do you _mean_ you’ve never seen your daddy’s face! That’s silly, of course you have!”

Kristoff frowns. “My father wears a mask at all times – he never takes it off.”

“But _why_?”

Kristoff shrugs. “He doesn’t like his face. It was… scarred, in an accident, a long time ago and he doesn’t like to see it.”

“That’s stupid,” Luna declares.

Pietro worries that Kristoff might snap at Luna because he has come to understand that the boy is fiercely defensive of his father. His worries are for nothing, though, because Kristoff merely nods and agrees with his daughter that it _is_ stupid.

Later, he takes Kristoff aside and brings out the framed photograph Reed gave him. “That’s your father,” he tells him, pointing out Victor. “Before the accident that scarred him.”

Kristoff is fascinated – how must it be to see the man your father truly is after only ever seeing a mask? “He looks like me,” Kristoff says, with a secret sort of smile. “I like that we look similar, even though we are not blood related.”

They do look similar; he realises now that Kristoff is in front of him. Victor’s skin is slightly darker, he thinks, and Kristoff’s hair lighter, but their eyes are both dark and intelligent and their faces sharp edged.

“Have you seen his face without his mask?” Kristoff asks him, curiously, placing the frame delicately on the shelf where it usually sits.

Pietro pauses. “Yes,” he answers, slowly. “Once – when we first met – he did it because he thought it would disgust me.”

Kristoff looks at him suspiciously, “Is that why you don’t love him?”

He looks at the boy, slightly horrified, “Of course not! The reason I do not love him is because he is a villain who feels the need to torment my fellow heroes – some of whom are my friends.”

“Oh,” Kristoff says. “Good. Well, not good that he is a villain I suppose, but good that you do not judge him like that. I think if that were the truth I might hate you which I wouldn’t like because you are actually quite nice.”

“I… thank you,” he says because Pietro doesn’t think anyone has ever described him as _nice_ before. “I am glad – I would not want you to hate me.”

That night – as Pietro lies in bed – his eyes can’t stop wandering to the framed photograph sitting innocuously on the shelf in his room.

_What would my life be like if I had met that man instead of Doom?_

***

Kristoff has been staying with Pietro and Luna for several months when the three of them receive an unexpected visitor in the form of Magneto.

He has not seen his… father since the man came to them on the Moon to reveal the truth of Pietro’s parentage. He has gone out of his way to avoid the man and now he is sitting on Pietro’s sofa casually as if he hasn’t just broken in.

“Magneto,” he says warily, and he feels Kristoff tense behind him. The three of them had gone out shopping and Kristoff had held Luna’s hand the whole way back and now he sees the boy stand in front of her protectively once he knows who their intruder is.

“Pietro,” his father returns, genially. “And Luna, of course, and… who else?”

Pietro does not bother to be angry that Magneto has let himself into his apartment – he finds getting angry at the man a waste of time as the man has no shame and will do whatever he wants regardless.

“I’m Kristoff Von Doom,” Kristoff says, staring down Magneto.

Magneto looks surprised, and glances at Pietro with raised eyebrows, “I did not think you were so close with your soulmate that you shared custody of his child.”

Despite the inaccuracy of his father’s assumption, Pietro finds himself flushing. “No… I – Doom is missing at the moment, and Kristoff needed someone to look after him.”

“Hm,” Magneto does not comment further on that situation though he clearly wants to. “I will get straight to the point, Pietro. I fear that Luna is in danger here and I hope you will consider relocating to some other place.”

That isn’t at all what he was expecting his father to come out with, and he just stares at the man in confusion. “I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

Magneto pauses. “There are… certain mutants I know of that do not, well, they do not approve of the fact that your daughter is a human and would rather that she did not exist at all.”

Pietro furrows his brow, “Why would some random mutants care that my daughter is human?”

Magneto opens his mouth to elaborate but Kristoff cuts in. “Because they work for you, right?” he says, staring at Pietro’s father expectantly. “They’ve bought into whatever mutant supremacist propaganda you’ve fed them, and they think so highly of you that they are _offended_ that the granddaughter of their great leader is a _human_.”

Magneto looks away but does not dispute the boy’s claims. “You are a perceptive boy, Kristoff Von Doom.”

Pietro gapes at his father in horror, “You mean he is right? That you have endangered my daughter with your ridiculous crusade?”

“Pietro,” Magneto says, placatingly. “I did not –”

“No!” he snaps. “I do not want to hear whatever excuses you have prepared for me! I always feared that you would hurt Luna for not being a mutant, and I was right. Get out! I do not want you anywhere near my child ever again!”

Reluctantly, his father leaves, but not before again suggesting that Pietro take his daughter to live elsewhere. He hates his father, but he is not stupid enough to ignore a warning from the man.

His first thought is, of course, his sister and her wife, but he soon dismisses that. If these mutants know where Pietro lives, he’s sure that they know where Wanda lives too.

“What about Latveria?” Kristoff suggests. “Castle Doom is extremely well protected.”

He doesn’t really know how to explain to Kristoff that he doesn’t want to live in a huge empty castle populated by robots without insulting the boy’s home. “Not Latveria,” he says, thinking. “But you _did_ just give me an idea…”

Barely a country away from Latveria is Pietro’s homeland of Transia. Transia itself is small and unimportant, but his birthplace of Wundagore Mountain is not. The mountain hides a secret citadel, home to a man called the High Evolutionary and his New Men. One of those New Men is Bova, who delivered Pietro and his sister into this world. Bova loves the two of them, and he is sure she would welcome Pietro and his daughter.

“Am I going back to the Fantastic Four?” Kristoff asks him quietly as Pietro packs clothes for himself and Luna.

He gives the boy an odd look. “Of course not – you’re coming with us.”

“Oh,” he says, though with a glad look. “I thought maybe –”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he cuts in, gently. “Luna and I love having you with us – I am not just going to offload you onto somebody else.”

“I – I like being with you both too,” Kristoff says, earnestly. “It’s different than at home but… but it’s a good different.”

He smiles at the boy. “Go on, then,” he shoos the boy away, “Go pack your things.”

***

Bova is indeed pleased to welcome the three of them into her home. Pietro sort of assumed they would just stay at her cottage, but she insists on bringing them all into the High Evolutionary’s citadel.

He is surprised that the man – though it is hard to think of the Evolutionary as a human man – does not mind their presence in his citadel. Though the man clearly has dubious morals – performing genetic experiments on animals to turn them into humanoid creatures – he is hardly villainous. He spends most of his time in his laboratory experimenting with whatever he has decided to spend time on today or leading the New Men who have various duties across the globe.

Pietro worried that Luna would feel upset or unnerved about living in the citadel, but she takes it all in her stride. The New Men, of course, fascinate her. Thankfully the New Men don’t take offence to Luna when she refers to them by the name of the animal they have evolved from instead of the names they have taken for themselves. In fact they seem quite smitten with Luna themselves, referring to her often as ‘sweet Luna’ and entertaining her numerous questions and allowing her to climb into their arms or onto their backs.

Kristoff, too, is fascinated by the New Men though his is much more of a scientific fascination than Luna’s childish amazement. The boy spends lots of time with the Evolutionary in his laboratory helping the man in his experiments. Pietro wonders if he should be concerned, but he gets the impression that the Evolutionary is no threat. He wonders if the man reminds Kristoff of his father – the Evolutionary is also a morally dubious scientist who wears strange armour.

Pietro is grateful for the Evolutionary allowing them to stay in the citadel – he feared that the man would not want them there when he found out that their presence brings the threat of other mutants looking to murder his daughter. However the man hadn’t seem phased when he told him this, telling Pietro that the citadel was well defended, and his New Men would gladly come to their protection.

And it seems that the High Evolutionary spoke the truth, for when the group who call themselves the Acolytes find them and attack the citadel, the New Men gladly enter into battle to protect them.

Pietro is not inside the citadel when they come for his daughter – he is down in the countryside below, wandering the place he once called home so long ago. He is wearing his comms, however, and Bova is able to contact him in warning, summoning him back to their aid.

When he arrives at the mountain, he finds the New Men already engaged in combat with the Acolytes. They tell him to go to the citadel where Bova has taken Luna for safety and he does so.

Once inside, he finds some of the Acolytes have managed to get inside and that they are battling the Evolutionary himself as well as some of the New Men. He also realises – horrified – that Bova and Luna are caught in the same room as them and cannot escape.

“I will _not_ face Exodus and the rest of the Acolytes,” – a man declares, pulling out a gun – “and tell them Magneto’s _bad seed_ still breathes!”

The man takes aim at Luna who is clutched protectively in Bova’s arms. Pietro moves to take the man down but realises too late that one of the other Acolytes has restrained his legs. Normally he would easily be able to break out of such a hold, but this time he is completely unable to move – it must be something to do with this Acolyte’s mutant power.

He watches, helpless, as the man aiming a gun at his daughter pulls the trigger and lets fourth a powerful energy blast.

Pietro lets out a sort of strangled scream as he sees the blast explode towards his daughter.

The room explodes in a green light, and the energy blast ricochets off a sort of forcefield that comes from the general direction of his daughter. _Luna’s bangle_ , he thinks, relieved.

The blast ricochets off the forcefield stronger and faster than it came out of the gun, and heads straight in the direction of the man who shot it. Pietro watches in horror as the blast hits the man head on, practically disintegrating him.

The Acolyte who was restraining Pietro lets go in shock, and he rushes towards his daughter and Bova.

He expects to see Luna confused at what just happened, maybe to see her bangle glowing the way Crystal described it the first time it saved her life. Instead, he sees Kristoff standing in front of Bova and Luna, looking in the direction of the Acolytes in thinly veiled disgust.

“Kristoff?” He never thought to inquire where the boy was when he was told the citadel was under siege and he feels a wave of guilt wash over him. “Was… was that _you_?”

The boy looks unphased, “Of course.”

He considers asking Kristoff how he did that. He considers telling the boy that he shouldn’t kill people. He considers scolding him for recklessly putting himself in danger like that. In the end he does none of those things. Instead, he pulls the boy into a tight hug. Kristoff seems tense in his arms but relaxes soon enough.

“Thank you,” Pietro breathes. “You saved Luna’s life, Kristoff. Thank you.”

Kristoff pulls away, looking flushed, “You don’t need to thank me. He – he was going to kill my… my sister.”

Pietro raises his eyebrows at the word _sister_ but doesn’t comment, he supposes that’s as much an accurate description as any.

The rest of the Acolytes retreat, though frankly Pietro isn’t sure how many are left alive. The New Men have no concept of restraint when a child’s life is at stake, and clearly have no qualms with killing. Pietro can’t find it in him to feel any remorse – they would have all killed his daughter given the chance.

Later, he finds Kristoff helping Bova put Luna to bed. He stands in the doorway to his daughter’s room and watches Luna cling to Kristoff like a baby monkey. “Daddy said you saved me from the bad man,” she tells him, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Is that true?”

“I –”

“Yes, it’s true,” Pietro says from the doorway. “Don’t let him be modest, Luna, he saved your life.”

And it’s true, he did, because when Pietro had hugged his daughter in relief just after it happened, he realised that she hadn’t been wearing Victor’s gift on her wrist. He doesn’t know why she took it off, but he’d never explained to her its importance, and so clearly she hadn’t seen any issue with leaving it in her room somewhere. Without it, she was a helpless child with no protection – if it hadn’t been for Kristoff she’d be… well, he doesn’t even want to think about it.

Luna grips Kristoff in a hug, “Thank you, Kris!” She has taken to calling him Kris because she can’t quite get her tongue around his full name.

When Luna is in bed, Kristoff joins Pietro outside her room.

“You called Luna your sister,” Pietro notes, casually.

Kristoff looks down, embarrassed. He shrugs, “Well we _would_ be siblings, wouldn’t we? If you and my father were together, that is.” And then, quietly, he asks, “Do you think that could ever happen?”

He looks at Kristoff in pity. “I want to be honest with you, so I will tell you that I would love for us to be one big family. Your father is my soulmate and I wish we could be together, I’m sure it would make everyone’s lives much easier and… and it might even make us both happy. But Victor is a bad man, Kristoff. You must know that. I do not want to make you feel bad for loving him, because he is your father and I know you love him very much, but I cannot love him whilst he does terrible things in this world. I will not bow to the whims of villains, Kristoff. I let Magneto coerce me into doing bad things when I was younger, and I will never let anyone else do the same.”

“But he wouldn’t make you do bad things!” Kristoff explodes. “I don’t do them!”

“Perhaps not,” he allows. “But then I would still have to stand by his side as he did them, wouldn’t I? It is different for you, Kristoff. No one would hold you accountable for his actions – you’re a child and his son – no one can expect you to stop him. But what excuse would I have? I know the people he wishes to hurt – that he _has_ hurt. They are my friends and teammates. I could not live with him in ignorance the way you are able to do.”

“So you mean we can never all be together as a family?”

“I suppose that depends on whether you think it is possible for him to stop this farce of world domination and to stop hurting people. He does not have to be a hero, Kristoff, but he has to try to be a good man.”

Quietly, Kristoff says, “I’m not sure that will ever happen.”

 _Me either_ , he thinks.

Instead he says, “There is always hope.”

***

Months pass and the three of them stay in the citadel instead of returning to New York. Pietro finds he quite likes it there. The city is always so loud and busy, but the citadel is secluded and more peaceful – even when it is populated by two children and a bunch of humanoid animals.

One thing he particularly enjoys about staying in the citadel is working with the New Men. The New Men – when they are working – call themselves the Knights of Wundagore and are dedicated to protecting the citadel and the world. Pietro works with them when they go on missions across Europe, defeating threats to the citadel and also tracking down the rest of the Acolytes and making sure they will never come after his daughter again.

Bova looks after Luna and Kristoff when Pietro is away with the Knights and the two of them are as close as any siblings. Luna should probably be in some sort of education by now, as she is nearing the age of five, but there aren’t exactly any schools Pietro would trust her to be safe at. Besides, he figures Kristoff is as good a teacher as any. He catches the boy lecturing his daughter on numerous occasions on any number of subjects from science to Latverian literature. He supposes that Kristoff’s education has also been disrupted but also understands that the boy is probably smarter than anyone he could find to teach him, so he isn’t too worried on that front.

One time, he finds Kristoff sitting cross-legged on the floor opposite Luna teaching her Romani. Pietro watches them for several minutes, shocked that he never thought to do this himself.

“This word is _Raza_ ,” Kristoff tells her, tracing the inscription of Luna’s bangle which he’s holding up to show her. “In English it means _moonbeam_. My father gave you this when you were born, you know. I have one too, see?” He pulls up his sleeve to show Luna a similar bangle. He pulls it off, handing Luna back her own one, and shows her his. “Mine says _Khamořo_ – it means _little sun_. Father made sure they matched because he knew we would be siblings one day. The sun and moon are often portrayed as being siblings, you see, like Artemis and Apollo in Greek Myth or Sol and Mani in Norse Mythology.”

Pietro doesn’t quite know what to say to that. How could Victor just _assume_ that Kristoff and Luna would see each other as siblings one day?

“What’s sister?” Luna wonders aloud. “Or brother?”

“ _Phen_ is sister,” Kristoff tells her, patiently. “And _phral_ is brother.”

Luna grins, “Thank you, _phral_.”

Kristoff ruffles her hair, “You’re welcome, _phen_.”

***

Kristoff has been living with them for just over a year – celebrating his twelfth birthday with them in the citadel – when Luna’s mother comes back to them.

He is shocked to see Crystal standing in the citadel casually, as if he and Luna hadn’t spent the last year thinking she was dead. She tells him that whilst the Avengers thought she perished in the battle with Onslaught, she had really been transported into another reality along with the other heroes they thought had died. Only now had they been able to find their way back to Earth.

Pietro isn’t sure how he’s going to explain this to Luna. It turns out he doesn’t need to worry about that, though, as at that moment Kristoff and Luna wander in looking for him.

“Mommy!” Luna cries, running across the room to Crystal.

“Luna, honey!” Crystal exclaims in delight, embracing her daughter with tears in her eyes.

Crystal tries to explain to her daughter where she has been all this time, but Luna doesn’t seem interested in that. Luna is much more interested in narrating to her mother what she’s been up to in the past year. “Me and daddy live in this nice castle now,” she tells her mother, “and there are all these nice animals who live here but they’re not just animals, they’re also _people_! And Kris teaches me all these smart people things like daddy’s language and science and maths, and he also braids my hair much better than daddy does and–”

“Who’s Kris?” Crystal interrupts, confused.

Luna rolls her eyes. “Don’t be silly, mommy! You know Kris, he’s my brother!”

Crystal’s confused look hardens, and she turns towards Pietro. “What is she talking about?”

“Crystal –”

“I’m Kris,” Kristoff cuts in, his stare as hard as Crystal’s own. “Well… it’s Kristoff to _you_ – Kristoff Von Doom, actually.” 

“Von Doom…” Crystal murmurs to herself, and when the recognition hits her she turns a fierce glare at them both. “You allowed my daughter around this boy? His father is a supervillain! Have you so easily forgotten what Doom did to Franklin Richards? How could you endanger our daughter like that!”

“Kristoff isn’t dangerous, Crystal,” Pietro tells her, calmly, “he’s just a child, like Luna. And Doom is no threat to her – he is missing, which is why Kristoff has been staying with us.”

Crystal clenches her jaw. “Well I suppose it doesn’t matter now anyhow – Luna will be coming back home to Attilan with me now that I’m back.”

Pietro knew this was what would happen, but it still strikes his heart to hear her say it.

“What!” Kristoff exclaims, outraged. “You can’t do that! This is her _home_!”

Crystal looks at him coldly. “This is no more Luna’s home than you are her brother. Pietro was only Luna’s primary guardian in my absence. Now that I am back, she’ll be going home with me.”

Kristoff looks desperately to Pietro – perhaps expecting him to argue against Crystal – but he stays silent. What can he say? Crystal is her mother, and their agreement had always been for Luna to live with her. He can’t argue with her, for fear he will stop him from seeing his daughter altogether.

“Oh,” Luna says, sadly. “Are we leaving, mommy?”

“Yes,” Crystal says, firmly. “We’re going back to Attilan. Don’t you miss auntie Medusa and uncle Black Bolt? And I _know_ you must miss Lockjaw!”

Luna nods, and Crystal smiles. “Say goodbye to your father then, Luna.”

“Bye daddy!” She says, running over and hugging him. He holds her tightly, feeling tears start to brim in his eyes.

“Goodbye Luna,” he tells her, pressing a kiss in her hair.

She wiggles out of his grip and skips over to Kristoff, giving him a quick hug too. “Bye Kris! Thank you for doing my hair this morning!”

He sees Kristoff swallow deeply before saying, “Goodbye, _phen_.”

And then Crystal leaves as quickly as she appeared, this time taking his daughter away with her.

***

Barely a month later – as if the whole world is against him – Doctor Doom returns from wherever it is he has spent the last year. Pietro catches Kristoff watching his father on the news, which is how he finds out that his soulmate is back on earth.

“Oh,” Pietro says, when he sees the armoured man on the screen. “I suppose you will want to return home, Kristoff.”

Kristoff looks away guilty. “I want to, because I love my father… but I don’t want to leave here because I love you too and if I leave you’ll be alone.”

“Oh, Kristoff,” he murmurs, bringing the boy into a hug. “I don’t want you to leave either, but you have to – it is a horrible thing to be without your child and I wouldn’t wish that on Victor.”

“But aren’t I your child too?” Kristoff asks, quietly.

Pietro closes his eyes because he fears he will break down. If he starts to cry, he won’t be able to stop. “Yes,” he admits, because he does see Kristoff as his own child after living with him for a year. The boy is kind and intelligent and funny and ever since Luna has left them he has been a light in Pietro’s darkened life. What had Victor inscribed on Kristoff’s bangle? _Khamořo_. Little sun. _Does he bring light to your life too, Victor?_ “But I’m sure that your father needs you more at the moment.”

Kristoff takes a deep breath, pulling back from their hug. “I suppose Latveria is quite close to Transia,” he says, quietly. “I could visit you easily enough… and when I’m back with my father we will continue my magical studies and soon I will learn teleportation spells that will make it very easy to come and see you.” He looks up at him, his expression suddenly very determined. “I will visit you every week, I promise.”

And so Kristoff returns to Latveria to live with his father, and Pietro is left all alone.

***

Pietro spends the next few years splitting his time between New York and Transia. When he is in New York he aids the Avengers and visits his sister and her wife. When he is in Transia he aids the Knights of Wundagore and is visited often by Kristoff as promised. He watches the boy grow up and only get more intelligent and more powerful. Whenever Kristoff shows him some new sorcery that Victor has taught him, Pietro makes a point of telling him how proud he is – he gets the impression that Victor is not much one for praise.

Occasionally he will see Luna – a couple of times a year, perhaps. Sometimes her visits coincide with Kristoff’s and the three of them spend a few days pretending that they are a normal family. It’s nice. When they leave, the illusion fades and he is left with an aching heart like someone has reached deep into his chest and tore chunks out.

He spends time travelling the world, which is easy for him, of course. Pietro likes quiet, secluded places. Places that time hasn’t touched, and humanity hasn’t destroyed. Sometimes he will take others to these places. When he takes Luna to places like this, she likes to explore because her time on the Moon makes her forget how beautiful Earth can be. When he takes Kristoff, the boy studies the environment and produces near-photographic illustrations of the landscape. _How different my two children are._

Today, Pietro has taken his sister-in-law to a cabin he has in Greenland. Jean likes quiet places too – it gives her a break from the constant chatter she hears from everyone with her telepathy. So he is sitting reading, and Jean is sleeping in her room when Magneto arrives with Wanda.

“Pietro, go get Jean.” Is all the man says, cradling an unconscious Wanda in his arms.

He frowns, rushing to their side. “Is Wanda okay? What happened.”

Magneto’s face is grim. “I do not wish to explain twice, please go and wake Jean.”

Pietro wants to make sure 100% that his sister is okay, but his father looks _scared_ and he doesn’t think he’s ever seen that expression on the man before. He runs into Jean’s bedroom and shakes her awake.

“Pietro?” she says, yawning and confused. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t think so,” he answers honestly. “My father is here with Wanda… I think something very terrible has happened.”

Immediately Jean is up out of bed, rushing into the living area where Magneto has laid Wanda out on a sofa. “Magneto!” she cries out. “What has happened? Is she okay? This better not be your doing!”

Magneto looks gravely at both Jean and Pietro. “Wanda has remembered about the existence of her two sons, William and Thomas.” Jean gasps, but Pietro’s father continues swiftly. “She suffered a sort of mental breakdown when she remembered. She went to Agatha Harkness for the truth and lashed out when she was told what had happened to her sons. And then she moved on to Avengers Mansion and unleashed her wrath and chaos onto everyone there. The mansion is destroyed. Agatha Harkness, Ant-Man and Hawkeye are dead.”

Jean and Pietro share a horrified look. He remembers years ago when William and Thomas disappeared – how Jean had worried that one day Wanda would remember, and it would break her mind. Evidently that day is upon them.

“Is she okay?” Jean asks, reaching out to stroke a hand through her wife’s hair.

“I am taking her to Genosha, to see Charles Xavier. I hope that perhaps he can help her piece together her mind. And you, Jean – I’m sure your telepathy would be a great deal of help.”

Jean nods. “Of course. Anything she needs.”

Magneto and Jean leave with Wanda.

Pietro ventures to Avengers Mansion which is indeed in ruins as his father described. When he looks around and sees the destruction, it hits him how powerful his sister really is. He knew, of course, but to see it in front of him like this…

The Avengers are nowhere to be seen. He wonders where they are now that the mansion is gone. And then he wonders _what will they do to my sister_?

***

It has been six months since Wanda’s mind shattered and her powers lashed out at the Avengers. Xavier and Jean have had no real progress in helping her. When Pietro is witness to their attempts to help, he watches helplessly as his sister warps reality around her to suit her desires instead of facing the truth.

He hears that the Avengers and the X-Men are coming together in New York to decide the fate of his sister. _They want to kill her. They are going to take her from me._

Covertly, he follows some of the Avengers to the meeting. And then he listens in. He hears how people his sister once loved, once considered friends and family, debate whether she deserves to live. He leaves.

When he arrives in Genosha his sister is sleeping in her bed. Jean sits by her bedside, stroking her hair, and crying silently. Magneto stands across the room from them, watching in a despair that Pietro sees reflected in his own eyes when he looks in the mirror.

“What are you doing here, Pietro?” his father asks as if he has no right to see his troubled sister.

“They’re going to _kill_ her.” He says, desperately.

“What?”

He moves closer to Magneto, enraged. “They are going to _kill_ her!” His father doesn’t respond. “Xavier, the rest… _all_ the Avengers. All the X-Men. They are meeting _right now_ in New York; I was just there. They are agreeing to kill her. They are going to decide that there is no other way, and they are going to come here and kill her. My sister! Your own daughter!”

His father stares back at him, his gaze empty. “Pietro… they may be right.”

His body seizes up in anger, vibrating at a frequency that would destroy anything he touched. He shouts a tirade of abuse at his father.

“I can’t – Pietro, no one can hear you when you yell that fast.”

He stills, looking at the man desperately. “I swore upon my life to protect her! First from you. And now from them? The Avengers were our family and now they are going to kill her! And – and you _agree_?”

Tiredly, his father says, “What would you have me _do_?”

“They’re going to _kill_ her!” he repeats angrily.

Magneto grabs at him, seizing him by the shoulders. “What would you have me _do_!” he shouts in Pietro’s face.

And what can Pietro say? Because what can be done, really? His father is powerful, but not powerful enough to protect Wanda from the combined forces of the Avengers and the X-Men.

Pietro sinks to the floor in despair, and Magneto leaves him like that.

“You shouldn’t yell at him, Pietro,” Wanda says from behind him. He turns around and sees she has sat up in her bed, leaning heavily on her wife. “He doesn’t respond well.”

He joins his sister on the bed, sitting on her other side so that she is sitting between him and Jean. She is surrounded by the two people who love her most in this world.

“Did you hear?” he asks, quietly.

“Yes. My friends are coming.” She replies, calmly. “Don’t be mad at me, but when they do, I’m not going to fight them.”

“Wanda, please…” Jean says, as desperately as Pietro feels.

“I’ll take you from here.” He tells her.

“And they’ll follow. No.”

“I will fight them _for_ you. I won’t let them take you from me again. I won’t. I –”

“It’s over. It should have ended months ago.” His sister says.

The three of them sit in silence for a few moments.

“Am I a coward?” Wanda asks Pietro and Jean, quietly. “For not wanting to kill myself? Even though I know I should?”

Jean does not answer – she cannot – she is crying silently and can’t get the words out. Pietro is crying too, and he leans his head on her shoulder because it seems Wanda is the strongest of them all at the moment. “It’ll be over soon.” She tells them both, as if her death is something that should comfort them both. “I can already hear Xavier’s voice in my head. He’s checking on me.”

The anger burns up in him again. “We never had a chance,” he says, bitterly. “Magneto chose his mutant race over us. We were just children, and he abandoned us.” He sighs. “Even so – we fought so hard to get out from under it all.”

“How was it supposed to be?” she asks him.

“We were supposed to be a family.” All Pietro and Wanda have ever wanted is a family. They lost theirs and have spent their whole life trying to replace them. Wanda managed successfully with Jean, but the loss of William and Thomas tore it apart even if she didn’t remember them until now. Pietro tried with Crystal because his own soulmate did not want him and that fell apart around him. He thought maybe he could still have it – that year Kristoff and Luna lived with him – but eventually reality came calling.

“Yes.”

“We were supposed to be great heroes.” They did terrible things with Magneto – the names Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were once known only as villains – and they have spent their lives trying to redeem themselves.

“We were, for a bit.”

Pietro closes his eyes. “I liked being an Avenger more than I ever said.” He remembers his time serving with Captain America, Hawkeye and his sister. Those were some of the best times of his life.

“Me too.” Wanda whispers. “And look what I did to them… I would do anything to take it back.”

Pietro’s mind is racing. He’s thinking of places to go where they will be safe. The citadel? No. It’s well defended, and Wanda would be more powerful there because of its connection to Chthon, but it would still be no match against an invasion launched by the Avengers and the X-Men.

What about Victor? Would he be able to protect them? Would he even want to? Latveria is well protected, especially Castle Doom and the heroes might hesitate to attack a head of state. And even if they could not stay there, Victor knows how to travel between realities and even has the time platform. They could make their lives in a new time or in a new reality…

A new reality…

That sounds – maybe –

Yes. A new reality sounds perfect.

“You could –” he begins.

“What?”

Pietro sits forward slightly. “You could take it back. You could make… _everyone_ happy.”

Jean looks at him in alarm, “Pietro, what are you –”

“I can’t control it.” Wanda says, tiredly.

“What if Jean and I were there to help you? The three of us, together. And Xavier’s mind _inside_ you. Your powers as they are now. You can use _his_ powers and _yours_ and even Jean’s – all of them, together. Really there’s nothing you _can’t_ do.” He breathes. “In an instant – in an _instant_ not only could _we_ have what we deserve but you could _give_ it to our friends as well. Father could be given everything he dreamed of. We can finally be a family. They’d all be happy. They wouldn’t _bother_ us anymore.”

Wanda looks slightly terrified. “Pietro, I can’t –”

He stands up, looking over her, “We became – the reason we became Avengers was to try to change things… for the better. You _can_ change things. For the better. _Permanently_. Without fighting. Right now. You can make anyone you’ve ever loved happy.”

Wanda doesn’t say anything. Jean is directing a fierce glare at him – as if she knows that what he is asking is too much. It is, of course it is – but what other option do they have? And Jean knows that, too – knows that they have no choice, unless they want Wanda to be killed – which is why she glares at him but does not protest.

“Why would you be given all this power if _not_ for this reason? It might be that this is what you’re _supposed_ to do.” Pietro kneels slightly and clutches her arms. “And if you don’t – Wanda – if you don’t, they’ll _kill_ you. And we’ll _never_ be together again – you and Jean will _never_ be together again.”

***

_Pietro wakes up the way he does every morning – next to his husband – and he gets out of bed without disturbing him and goes for a run. His runs, of course, are not like the exercise a normal person would partake in. He runs for about 10 minutes; in which time he has run around the whole earth several times._

_When he returns home – to Latveria – his husband has woken up too and already wandered out of the bedroom into their walk-in closet to get dressed for the day._

_Pietro takes a short shower, gets dressed in a matter of seconds, and sits on their bed waiting for his husband to emerge. He sits childishly on the edge of the bed and breaks out into a grin when Victor re-enters the room. “Husband, aren’t you excited for today? I have not seen my nephews for so long, I cannot wait to see how they have grown!”_

_Victor looks at him, amused, “Somehow I doubt William and Thomas have changed much since you last saw them a month ago, Pietro.”_

_“A month is a long time for me!”_

_His husband’s face softens, and he moves towards Pietro and presses a kiss in his silver hair. “I know.” He tilts Pietro’s chin up, to look him properly in the eyes. “You must miss Wanda, too – I know the two of you have been together for your whole lives. I am forever grateful that you made the sacrifice of coming to live here in Latveria with me – I know you miss your family.”_

_Pietro bites his lip. “Well… my family is here, too.”_

_“Of course.” Victor agrees, with a smile. “But it is okay to miss your other family too – perhaps you can invite Wanda, Jean and the children to stay here for a few weeks, hmm?”_

_Pietro’s face lights up. “As usual, you are full of good ideas.” He darts forward and plants a quick kiss on his husband’s lips before zipping away to the door of their bedroom. “Come, we must make sure the children are ready for today.”_

_Victor gives him an amused look but joins him to leave their bedroom and make sure the children are ready to leave too._

_Kristoff’s bedroom is the closest to the master bedroom of the castle, and the boy is already ready when they find him. Like his father, Kristoff is an early riser and does not look at all a bit dishevelled despite the relatively early hour. “Good morning, father,” Kristoff greets Victor merrily, before turning to Pietro. “And you too… dad.”_

_Kristoff has only recently started to call Pietro ‘dad’ and every time he hears the word his heart skips a beat. He smiles widely at his son, “I am glad to see you awake and ready, Kristoff.”_

_“I wouldn’t miss going to Genosha and seeing father and Magnus at each other’s throats,” Kristoff says with a laugh. “The last time they were left alone together, Magnus accused father of seducing you away from mutantkind to the side of the humans. It was very entertaining, I must say.”_

_Victor laughs, turning to him, “See, husband, your father hates me – he thinks I slyly seduced you away from your family right under his nose.”_

_Pietro flushes, “That isn’t true at all.”_

_“Oh I don’t know,” Victor says, grinning, “it’s at least a little bit true.”_

_Kristoff rolls his eyes. “Are either of you going to wake Luna or will I have to do it?”_

_“I’ll wake her.” Victor tells them both, moving down the hallway and knocking on Luna’s door before opening it._

_Kristoff turns to him, his eyes downcast slightly. “Dad… can I ask you something?”_

_He looks at his son in concern, “Of course!”_

_“Do you think your sister will like me? And your nephews? Do you think they will… will want me as a part of their family?”_

_Pietro gapes slightly at his son. “Of course they will!” he insists, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You are my son! Wanda will be delighted to meet you, and Jean too! And I’m sure William and Thomas will love to have an older cousin to help them in their mischief and their games!”_

_“But I’m not a mutant,” his son mumbles._

_A fury rises up in Pietro – directed at his father. Is this the vitriol Magnus spouts at his husband and son when Pietro is not in the room?_

_“Oh, Kristoff,” he murmurs, “They won’t care about that – they’re not like my father, I promise. I hope you know I don’t care about that, either.”_

_His son shifts awkwardly under Pietro’s concerned gaze, “I know, dad.”_

_“Good,” he says, reaching forward and ruffling Kristoff’s hair so that the boy slaps his hand away in playful annoyance._

_“Daddy!”_

_Pietro turns just in time to catch Luna who throws herself at him with full force. “Good morning, sweetheart.” He pats down her hair which is slightly all over the place. “Are you excited to see auntie Wanda and auntie Jean?”_

_“Yes,” Luna says, “but auntie Lorna is my favourite.”_

_“Hm,” Pietro says, grumpily. “Well she’ll be there too, of course.”_

_He surveys the hallway, noticing that his husband has disappeared. “Where’s your father ran off to, Luna?”_

_“He went to say goodbye to grandmother,” Luna says. She means, of course, Victor’s mother Cynthia who lives with them in the castle too._

_“Well he can meet us in the hangar,” Pietro says – he is quite impatient because of his excitement. “Come on, you two.”_

_/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\_

_When their plane touches down in Genosha, his sister is already waiting for them. As soon as the doors unlock, Pietro is rushing out to greet her._

_“Wanda!” he exclaims, engulfing her in a warm hug. “I have missed you!”_

_She returns his hug and greets him similarly. “I have missed you too, brother.”_

_When she pulls back, she glances at his family who have exited the plane by now and are standing slightly behind him. “And this is your son?” she asks, her eyes sliding over Victor and Luna whom she already knows and landing on Kristoff._

_“Yes,” Pietro says, proudly, pulling Kristoff forward. “This is Kristoff.”_

_The boy murmurs a hello, but Wanda waves that away and greets him with a hug instead. “It is good to meet you, nephew.” Kristoff looks surprised but takes it in his stride, slowly returning her affection._

_“Where are the boys?” Pietro asks his sister, glancing about as if they may be hiding in plain sight._

_“Inside, with Jean,” Wanda replies, and gestures at them all to follow her in. “Come, they will be glad of a distraction – Jean has been trying to teach them to control their powers.”_

_William and Thomas are indeed glad of a distraction when they find them inside with their mother. They are all too happy to abandon their lessons to be introduced to their older cousin, Kristoff, and to greet Luna and Victor._

_Pietro and his husband spend the day with Wanda and Jean, the four of them conversing whilst watching their children play with one another. William and Thomas are fascinated with Kristoff’s sorcery and watch with rapid attention as he performs basic spells for them both. Luna has disappeared with her aunt Lorna who came to whisk the girl away within five minutes of their arrival – the two of them will be no doubt causing mayhem somewhere else in the palace._

_Later, and all of them must get ready for the gala his father is hosting in Genosha that evening. Luckily Kristoff and Luna are used to such events and Pietro has no problem with making sure they are dressed and presentable – Luna and Lorna get dressed together, even, so he does not have to worry at all about his daughter. William and Thomas, however, are much younger and have never attended such an event so Pietro watches in amusement as his sister and her wife try and wrangle the two boys and get them dressed in formal wear._

_“Victor,” a loud voice comes from behind them as Pietro and his husband wait for the guests of honour to arrive._

_“Magnus,” Victor greets, stoically._

_“Will you stand for some photographs?” his father asks, because all he ever thinks about is his reputation on the world stage._

_Victor nods, and gestures to Pietro, “With my husband, of course.”_

_Magnus makes a face because he doesn’t like to remember that his son is married to a human but waves them both over anyway. He summons a photographer who snaps a dozen or so photos of the three of them together, and then Pietro and his husband, and then Pietro with his father, and then Victor with his father. Pietro is glad it is over quickly – he isn’t good at standing still for long periods of time. He hopes the photographer double checked the photos he took otherwise Pietro might be blurred in them if he even moved slightly when they were taken._

_Soon the majority of guests have arrived and are gathered in the outdoor pavilion attached to the main palace. Pietro watches as the guests of honour arrive and are announced as befits royalty: King T’Challa of the African Commonwealth of Wakanda; Genis-Vell, visiting delegate from the Kree Empire; Princess Ororo of Kenya; King Namor of Atlantis and finally Pietro’s own husband, Victor Von Doom – King of Latveria._

_And then – because Magnus won’t be upstaged at his own event – the attention is all directed towards him._

_“Gathered royals and honoured guests…” the announcement sounds, resounding all about the pavilion. “The House of Magnus!”_

_The curtain falls away, and the audience is treated to the sight of his father seated on a magnificent throne and flanked by his daughters, Wanda and Lorna. Jean is there too, at Wanda’s side, and William and Thomas stand with their mothers. Pietro stands with them all too, Luna at his side. He clenches his fists as he stands there – because he had wanted Kristoff with him as his son – but Magnus would not hear of a human standing as part of his family and so Kristoff had entered the room with his father instead._

_As they are standing there, being applauded, a distant shape appears in the sky above them. Pietro sees it and frowns. It seems to be moving closer…_

_It’s a Sentinel._

_He shouts in alarm, but his father has already spotted it._

_Magnus and Lorna have used their powers to propel themselves in the air to get closer to it – both their hands are outstretched, stopping the Sentinel in mid-air._

_As the two of them start to shred it apart with their powers, a group of mutants and humans burst forth from inside the Sentinel like some sort of perverted trojan horse._

_The group descend on his father, and with him and Lorna distracted, the Sentinel comes crashing to the ground all around them._

_Pietro’s first reaction is to move Luna out of the way – he does so, zipping her over to her father and brother whom he knows will protect her. When he gets back, the Sentinel has hit the floor sending shockwaves that knock even him flying._

_When the dust clears, he cannot see Wanda or the children. He sees Jean who has been beset by the group of attackers, but she seems to be holding her own so he turns his attention to where his sister could be._

_“Pietro!” Lorna calls to him, and he snaps his head towards her. He sees she is cradling Wanda in her arms, and he rushes towards her. Once he is with her, Lorna throws up a magnetic forcefield to protect them all. “Get Wanda out of here and go find where father landed – I can only keep these magnetic fields for so long.”_

_She passes Wanda over to him, and he shakes her awake. But she does not awake. She is not breathing. “Th – there’s something wrong with her, Lorna. She’s –”_

_Beneath his fingers, his sister starts to crumble apart and disappear – like she is not even human. “What is this? What is happening?”_

_Soon there is nothing left of her._

_“What have you done to my sister!” Pietro screams, raw anger rolling off him in waves. He runs through the group of attackers who have invaded the pavilion and seem to be everywhere. He sends them flying as he moves between them. “Why are you attacking my family?”_

_He spots a woman standing in the rubble – she’s in the uniform of the Red Guard and has thick brown hair with the parting of it coloured grey – and he rushes at her. “Why do you –”_

_“Wrong one, sugah!” she says as her eyes glow, and he is sent hurtling across the rubble – landing painfully a bit away._

_His head hits the ground hard, and he is suddenly so dazed he can barely think. What is happening, he wonders, why are mutants attacking my father? Where is Victor, and Kristoff and Luna? What happened to my sister? It was like she just disappeared from reality…_

_He hears a sort of echoing, powerful voice overcome him – “It wasn’t Magneto.” The voice says. “It was Pietro.”_

_What was him? What are they talking about? What has he done?_

_Suddenly his mind is overloaded with a million memories at once – the life of Pietro Django Maximoff flashes before his eyes._

_He remembers everything._

_He remembers his parents, Marya and Django, but also his birth parents Magda and Magneto. He remembers the name on his wrist – his soulmate – his husband here, but not in reality. He remembers being in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, in the Avengers, in X-Factor. He remembers Crystal – Luna’s mother – and their marriage and subsequent annulment. He remembers the Knights of Wundagore and the citadel. He remembers every moment of a life he did not know he had._

_He remembers that the powerful voice that brought him his memories belongs to Doctor Strange. But what had the man been saying? That it hadn’t been Magneto, it had been Pietro? What does he –_

_Oh._

_He remembers everything._

_He remembers Wanda’s breakdown and the uncontrollable outburst of her powers that had killed some of the Avengers. He remembers her not improving – everyone around her helpless and unable to heal her mind. He remembers understanding that the heroes of the world were going to kill her – were going to take Wanda away from him. Wanda, his twin, the person he has spent his entire life with ever since he was conceived. He has never been without her in his life, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. He remembers telling her that she could fix everything, that she could create a new world where everyone was happy so that the heroes would leave them alone._

_Well clearly it did not work, and the heroes are not about to leave them alone._

_But he won’t give up now._

_“Watch out for,” – Pietro smashes through the ranks of heroes fighting his family. He sends them all hurtling painfully across the rubble – “Pietro!!”_

_The sound of screeching metal reverberates across the landscape. The ground beneath him shakes and moves, sending him to the floor. His father walks towards him, glowing with power._

_“What have you done in my name, boy!” Magneto bellows at him, levitating and bringing metal to surround himself._

_“You were going to let them kill her!” he screams back at him, tears streaming down his face and anger boiling in his blood._

_“You used her, and you used me! I would never have allowed this!” Magneto reaches back with his power, bringing closer huge chunks of metal so that they hover precariously in the air. “You’ve destroyed everything and everyone! And you used my name to do it!”_

_The slabs of metal come crashing down toward him and he cannot move. He cannot escape._

_“What right?” Magneto demands in anger. “What right?”_

_The metal smashes into him._

_Pietro Maximoff dies._

_*_

_*_

_*_

_He comes back to life only minutes later, in his sister’s arms. He clutches at her desperately, and she clings to him, too. Wanda lays his head in her lap, and he looks up at her._

_“He – he only wanted you to be happy…” Wanda says, a hand in his hair. She looks up at their father who is still in the sky – their father who killed him. “Look what you’ve done to us, daddy. Pietro was right – you – you ruined us before we even had a chance. Why would you treat your own children this way? Babies. Why?” Her voice hardens, “Because you actually think you’re better than everyone else. The arrogance of you. You think because we’re mutants we’re better than them. That we deserve to rule. That’s what you wanted, and I gave it to you. But look… look what it becomes.”_

_The heroes are all standing still around them, watching._

_“Even when you get what you want, you’re still this horrible man. We’re not the next step. We’re not Gods. We’re freaks! Look at us, daddy! We’re freaks! Mutants! You chose this over us, and you ruined us!” her voice is hoarse, from screaming at their father._

_Suddenly she goes very still and very quiet, “Daddy…” she says, and a power fills her voice he has never heard before. “No more mutants.”_

***

When Pietro comes back to reality as it was, he is back in his apartment in New York. Straight away he knows something is wrong, but he cannot tell quite what it is. He puts those thoughts aside – he needs to find his sister.

He goes to run – to go to Jean and Wanda’s house – and nothing happens.

He stumbles forward.

_What is this? Where are my powers?_

He goes into the kitchen – walks, that is – and picks up a glass. He holds it out in front of him and drops it.

Previously – he would have caught it straight away. His reflexes were several times faster than the average human. Now, they are gone. He watches as the glass hits the floor and smashes into a million pieces. Pietro feels the same – feels like someone too has just broken him apart like that.

So… his powers are gone, evidently. He tries not to panic – maybe this is just some sort of aftereffect of the whole world being changed back to normal. Or maybe even an aftereffect of him being brought back to life.

 _Oh,_ he realises suddenly, _I actually died – I – my own father killed me…_

He doesn’t have time to process that now, though. He needs to figure out what has happened to his powers. His best bet is still finding his sister.

So, he walks to Jean and Wanda’s house. It is painful and new and confusing – to be at human speed – but he endures it because obviously this cannot last forever, he knows that his powers will return.

Jean’s powers are not gone, but she does not seem shocked to realise that his are.

“Pietro…” Jean says, cautiously. “Have you seen the news?”

“Of course not,” he says, stupidly, “I have been looking for Wanda.”

Slowly, she guides him over to the television and turns it on. She stands there, watching him, as he watches a variety of people report that mutants across the world have all suddenly lost their powers. Some haven’t – a few hundred, they estimate – but the majority have. Millions of mutants just… reduced to humanity.

“She said,” he remembers, shakily. “She said… no more mutants.”

“Yes,” Jean says, slowly, “and I think that is exactly what has happened.”

***

Pietro does not answer Jean’s calls and he avoids her when she comes knocking. He does not want to talk to her – he does not want to talk to anyone.

He feels lethargic – he has never felt that way before, not once in his entire life. He feels like he is watching the world from behind a screen, like he is trapped in another world watching everyone but unable to interact with them. He is clumsy, he cannot work out how to do things at a human speed and either does them too quickly or too slowly.

It hits him one night – it really starts to sink in:

_This is permanent. My powers aren’t coming back. Quicksilver does not exist anymore._

That realisation makes him go out to the store and buy alcohol. He has never really drunk before – because before it had no effect on him – but he is making up for those sober years now. He drinks until he passes out, because he cannot get to sleep nowadays. He drinks until he throws up; he realises that drinking on an empty stomach will do that to you, so he makes sure to eat first. But he is not adept at eating as a human. He does not know how much he needs to eat and often he eats too little or too much.

He feels listless. He feels hateful. _Wanda did this to me… why would she do this to me…_

Pietro still needs to find her, though. And for that he needs his powers.

 _Victor would help me_ , a part of him whispers – but a larger part of him remembers that in Wanda’s fake reality the two of them were married and happy and were a family. He does not think he could cope, if he saw Victor again. _We can be happy again – I just need to find Wanda and we can make the world right again but try harder this time to get it perfect._

***

One night, and he remembers that Crystal left a summons key in his apartment – a way to summon her and Lockjaw if he and Luna were ever in danger and needed to escape.

_The Inhumans are not born with their powers, they go through terrigenesis to gain them – maybe I could do that and regain my powers._

The Inhumans hate him, of course, but maybe Crystal will see that he _needs_ his powers. She – she loved him once, long ago, and she loves their daughter. Maybe she will make an allowance, for him.

So he takes the key and leaves his apartment. He presses it, sending an alert to Crystal that tells her of his location. “Answer me,” he murmurs, “if you have any feelings left for me at all… tell me there is a place where I can be more than human again.”

As he’s leaving his apartment, he hears an argument in a side alley down below. He sees a group of boys harassing another boy – they say there’s rumours that the boy is a mutant. He laughs, _there are no mutants now_.

Except this boy _is_ a mutant – he has some sort of _creature_ attached to his chest that lashes out and protects him from his tormentors which of course only makes them angrier.

Pietro is angry, too. _How is this boy still a mutant, and I am not?_ But he is not bitter and selfish enough to ignore the boy’s suffering – he knows what it is like to be harassed for being a mutant.

Stupidly, he goes down there and confronts them all. For just a second he had forgotten that he lacked his powers, and so for his trouble he gets punched across the jaw so hard it sends him to the ground. He is not used to pain, really. Most injuries he had healed in seconds, before. And he is certainly not used to being decked to the ground with a single punch – if this had been before, the boy’s hand would have broken.

“That’s what I love about this city,” he hears a voice say, from overhead. “Every time I need to hit someone really, really hard – some jerk steps up and volunteers.”

Pietro watches Spiderman swing down and take out the thugs attacking the mutant boy. Now that he knows the boy will be safe, Pietro tries to get away by going back up the fire escape to his apartment. The last thing he needs is for another hero to see him as he is now – useless, pitiful and broken.

But of course, the world is against him.

“Hey there, Pietro.” Spiderman says, letting one of his webs fly. It catches Pietro on the shoulder, and he cannot escape. Spiderman pulls back his wrist sharply, and the web veers sharply to the left – sending Pietro smashing into a wall. “C’mere, I want to talk to you.”

Spiderman grabs him and hauls him up to the roof – throwing him across the flat surface. Then he grabs him again and holds him in such a way that Pietro is dangling over the edge of the roof. “The last time I saw you, your daddy was crushing you to a pulp. I can’t say I blame him.”

_What? What have I done to this man to earn such ire? Spiderman isn’t even a mutant; he clearly hasn’t lost his powers… so what is he so angry about?_

Spiderman flings him away from the edge, smashing him into one of the vents on the roof. “Why did you do it, Pietro!” he demands, “why did you wreck my life?”

He is not quite sure what Spiderman is even talking about and frankly he’s quite angry at being shoved about like a common criminal. “Did you think I wanted this?” he demands, equally angry. “Look at me! I’m living like a fugitive. My sister is gone. I don’t even know if she is alive.” _And the family I had was not real and I will never have it again._ “I’ve lost everything!”

Stupidly, he aims a punch at Spiderman who dodges it easily. “You see? I’ve even lost my speed. You can’t imagine what it’s like to be so… so _slow_ …”

Spiderman pushes him up against the vent. “Well, Pietro, you know what? _Ha. Ha_.” He gestures to down below, where an ambulance has arrived to treat the thugs who attacked the mutant boy. “What about that poor kid down there? You think that would have happened to him if you and your sister hadn’t screwed up the whole world? How about the thousands of lives you destroyed – all those mutants who aren’t mutants anymore? How do you think they feel?”

Of course it would have happened without Wanda’s interference – does Spiderman think that mutant children were living blissfully before? And as for how Pietro thinks other former mutants feel – well, he can only assume they feel as broken as he does.

“How about _me_ , you selfish piece of garbage!” Spiderman demands, squeezing Pietro’s neck tightly. “I had a little boy in this _perfect world_ you and your sister made for us. My soulmate, a woman who dies, was _alive_ again. _We had a baby_!” Spiderman leans in close, “I’ve lost my _son_!”

_Oh. Spiderman is like me, then – someone who had a perfect life in the other world and who cannot cope knowing he has lost it._

Spiderman lets him go, and steps back. “They say the worst thing that can happen to anyone is having to bury your own child. Well, let me tell you, Pietro – there is something worse. My son is dead, and I can’t bury him, because he never existed.” Spiderman wanders along the roof, sitting down on the edge. “I can’t even tell my own wife. This morning, you know what? I’m sitting there with all these memories whirling around in my head. I’m grieving for my dead son and she’s telling me some joke she heard on TV, and she wonders why I’m not laughing!”

Hearing this, he wonders why Spiderman does not have more pity for his sister – she suffered the exact same type of loss he did, but twice over because she had two children. Part of him wants to tell the man about his own losses – the family _he_ lost – because Pietro hasn’t really had time to process his own loss, yet. But he stays silent. He doesn’t think that will make Spiderman feel any better – though he might get a laugh out of knowing Pietro’s soulmate is Doctor Doom.

“I’m sorry, I – if I could do anything to put this right, I would… but I can’t.” He is powerless – like with Wanda – all over again.

“So I guess that makes you a waste of space, doesn’t it?” the man says, bitterly.

“It does,” Pietro realises. “Can you think of a single reason why I should go on living?”

 _What are you talking about? What about Luna and Kristoff?_ He pushes them out of his mind – they will be fine without him.

Spiderman looks away. “No, Pietro. Truthfully, I can’t.”

 _Well that solves that,_ he thinks _, I should have just stayed dead – Wanda should have never brought me back_.

He steps off the edge of the roof.

***

He wakes briefly several times – enough times to know that the alert he sent to Crystal went through and that he has been taken to Attilan. His body is broken from his fall… his _jump_.

He isn’t sure why he jumped, really – he just felt so desperate for a solution and hearing that he had nothing to live for had sent him reeling. A part of him still wishes he had died.

Whilst the healers work on him, he drift into unconsciousness.

_“Pietro!” he hears Victor snap, and he sees that he is dreaming. It is no less real, of course – this really is his soulmate, just not in physical form. “You must tell me where you are so I can find you – you need help!”_

_He wants Victor to leave him alone. He doesn’t want to think about the life they had together in the other world. He wonders if Victor remembers it, too? Does he grieve for a life they never had? Probably not, he thinks._

_In this dream Pietro’s body is not broken like it is in reality, but his powers are still gone. He is sitting listlessly in a corner, watching his soulmate. Even here everything feels slow and wrong. He is curled up slightly, clutching his knees to his chest like a child._

_Kristoff is here too, he notes absent-mindedly. He has never seen the boy with his father… well, except in that other – no, he doesn’t want to think about that right now._

_“Pietro…” Kristoff says, calmly. He comes up close to him and kneels by his side. “Pietro… dad… please can you tell us where in the world you are right now? We cannot find you and we are worried – father can sense that something bad has happened to you.”_

_Why are they worried about him? That’s silly. He is fine. He is in Attilan now and the Inhumans will let him undergo Terrigenesis and everything will be okay again. Kristoff called you dad – another part of him says – don’t you want to help your son? Can’t you see he is worried about you? Don’t be stupid, he thinks. Kristoff is not my son. Why would he want me as his dad – I am broken, and I cannot put myself back together._

_But maybe… maybe they could help him?_

_Then he hears his soulmate curse in Romani, before saying, “Curse that witch sister of his – if I ever find her I swear I will cut her down for what she has done!”_

_No… no… he thinks, weakly. I have to protect Wanda. I need to find my sister._

_Pietro does something he has never done before in these dreams – he tells himself to wake up._

***

“Daddy?”

He turns his head to see Luna standing by his bedside. “Luna? Is that really you?” The last memories he has of his daughter is spiriting her away to safety in the other reality.

“I know – I’ve grown,” she smiles. “I’m seven years old now.” Seven years old… how quickly children grow up.

She pulls herself up onto his bed. “Why are you here, daddy? Are you hurt?”

He hesitates. “Yes… I have lost my powers and I hurt myself badly, so your mother brought me here to heal.”

“How did you lose your powers?” Luna asks, curiously.

How can he explain the madness of weeks past to a mere child – clearly Luna has no recollection of the other world. “It happened to lots of mutants like me,” he tells her, instead. “I am not the only one.”

Luna smiles up at him, “Now we are the same! I have no powers either.”

 _Oh, Luna_. How can she understand the pain he feels without his powers? She cannot understand that he almost died rather than live like this.

For the next few days, the healers of Attilan work on his body – fixing him completely. Well, not completely – they cannot bring his powers back, after all.

But hopefully he will not be without those for long, today he has an audience with Black Bolt.

He stands in the throne room of Attilan. Black Bolt sits in his throne on a dais, his wife Medusa stands behind him – ready to translate.

“I would request your permission to undergo Terrigenesis, Lord Black Bolt.”

“Pietro,” Medusa says, her voice gentle and riddled with pity. “This is not possible. The Genetic Council has forbidden humans from exposure to the Terrigen mists. This ruling stands for all time.”

He clenches his jaw. “But I am _not_ human! All I wish for is to have my mutant status restored, Medusa. The mists would do that!”

She pauses. “You are… you were a _human_ mutant. Not _Inhuman_.” She sighs, “Long ago, the process of Terrigenesis was opened to all Inhumans without regulation. The resulting mutations were often radical… _monstrous_. The damage to the Inhuman gene pool was disastrous. It has taken many millennia to restore the balance. Now every Inhuman must undergo rigorous genetic screening before being allowed to transform. That screening automatically blocks persons of human descent.”

No… no… _please_. _I can’t live like this… please._

“What about my daughter? What about Luna?”

“Luna is excluded,” Medusa tells him, “it would be unsafe for her ever to be exposed to the mists of Terrigen.”

“I do not accept this!” he snaps, because all he has left now is anger.

“I’m sorry, Pietro. It is not open to discussion.”

***

With what he saw as his last hope to regain his powers denied to him, Pietro starts to spiral slightly. He needs his powers; he is scared that he might do something scary again – like jump off the edge of a building – if he stays without them.

He starts to question the rule that prevents him from undergoing Terrigenesis – how could he be mutated monstrously when he already _knows_ what power will be restored to him?

_The Inhumans have always hated me – have always seen themselves above me – it is natural for them to deny me what I deserve. But I will not let their prejudice prevent me from doing what I need to do in order to survive – I will have to undergo Terrigenesis without their permission._

Once he has decided that – once he has a clear goal in mind – everything else falls into place. He has free reign in Attilan, and he uses his time to find out all he can about the process of Terrigenesis. He learns that Terrigenesis involves exposure to the mists of Terrigen which are created by heating Terrigen crystals and exposing them to water. The crystals themselves are kept in a sealed cavern below Attilan where they are constantly exposed to heat and saline water and this is where the mists are collected from. The cavern is guarded but Pietro gets the impression it will be easy to break into because no Inhuman would ever dare to enter without the authority of the Genetic Council.

And he was right – the guards are easy to bypass.

The cavern is beautiful. The dark rocky walls are illuminated by the mists which are a brilliant blue and _glow_ brighter than any light source on Earth. He feels almost guilty, to break into such a sacred place. But he _needs_ this.

There is a large, deep pool of water in the cavern – the crystals are at the bottom, reacting with the water sending the blue mists up into the air. Pietro enters this pool, feels the _power_ of it all as he steps in.

He inhales the mists greedily – like it is oxygen he needs to breathe. He looks down at his hands which are trembling… no, they aren’t trembling – they’re _vibrating_. Soon his whole body is doing the same. He laughs – _it’s working_.

When it is all over, he is just standing there. He feels _right_.

_It worked. It actually worked._

Then he thinks, _if it works for me… it must work on other mutants… I can fix them all._

So he takes them all – all the Terrigen crystals – and runs back to Attilan before anyone notices something is wrong. He will need to get back to Earth quickly – he will be the Inhumans’ first suspect. But also the quicker he gets to Earth, the quicker he can start helping all the mutants suffering like he was. _I can help them. I can help them all._

A thought lingers at the back of his mind – _what about Luna?_

He doesn’t want to leave his daughter here. He wants her back with him. Who knows if Crystal will ever let him near their daughter again after she realises what he’s done? _I could give Luna what she deserves – I could use the crystals to give her powers, too._

Pietro finds her playing with Lockjaw which is lucky because Luna and Lockjaw are the two things he needs to take with him to Earth. Luna, because she is his daughter and he wants her with him, and Lockjaw because he is the only way Pietro will be able to get back to Earth.

“Luna,” he says, “I may have to return to Earth soon.”

Luna frowns at him, “but I thought you were here to stay – I don’t want you to go…”

“What if I asked you to come with me?”

“To Earth?” Luna looks confused. “Mommy would never allow it.”

He looks away. “We don’t need to tell her.”

Luna shakes her head, “But there’s no _way_ we could leave without her knowing.”

Pietro glances at Lockjaw, “does Lockjaw do what you tell him?”

Luna grins, “Of course!” she pats him on the head gently. “ _I’m_ the only one who plays with him! The others just _use_ him to go places.” She leans her face down on his soft fur, “You’ll do anything I say, won’t you?”

“ _Anything_?” he checks.

“Yes, anything at – _oh_.”

***

Luna leaves Crystal a note, explaining that she is with Pietro and not to worry. He makes sure she leaves it somewhere Crystal will find – he does not want her to think Luna is in danger.

Lockjaw takes them to Pietro’s apartment, and Luna commands him to return but not to bring anyone to where they are.

“Are we going back to see the animal men?” Luna asks, excitedly, when Lockjaw has gone back to Attilan. “Are we going to see Kris?”

“Maybe,” he answers, absent-mindedly. “But first, there is something I want you to do.”

Luna looks up at him, curiously, and he shows her the Terrigen crystals. She looks confused, “but the Council said it was too dangerous.”

“People _lie_ , Luna.” And the Council _must_ be lying, right? The crystals worked on him – who are they to say they won’t work on Luna? And his daughter _deserves_ this – she deserves to feel normal in her own home… he knows what being the outcast feels like.

As he pulls out the crystals, creating the Terrigen mists, Luna steps back in fear. “Daddy, I’m frightened,” she tells him, her voice trembling. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Trust me,” he tells her, the mists surrounding him and taking up all the air in the room. “I would never do anything to harm you.”

Soon, the mists are _everywhere,_ and the apartment is barely visible. “How do you feel?” he asks Luna, kneeling at her side.

“I feel… light… my head’s going round… my eyes are…” Luna rubs her eyes, and when her hands fall back to her side, her eyes are _golden_. “Daddy… you look…”

“Luna”?

She stares at him in fascination, “when you say my name, there are colours… I can see what you’re feeling… it’s _beautiful_.”

 _Some sort of empathy,_ he thinks.

Suddenly she lunges back, “Wait! What’s that? There’s something –”

Pietro looks at her in concern, “I can’t see it, Luna – you’ll have to tell me.”

Her eyes glow bright and wide, “There’s something _dark_ inside you. It’s spreading all over. Can’t you _feel_ it? Doesn’t it _hurt_?”

He has no idea what she’s talking about – he can’t see what she sees.

Luna turns away from him, clutching her temples, “I don’t like this! I don’t want to see this!”

He reaches for her, comforting her, “Don’t worry. What you’re seeing is only scary because it’s new. You’ll learn to control it.” _Luna is fine. She just needs some time. She’s fine._

***

He moves them quickly from his New York apartment to somewhere else – somewhere Crystal won’t know to look. They end up in Greenland – at the cabin he and Jean were staying in when Magneto told them what Wanda had done to the Avengers. _I want to go back to that time – the world was much simpler._

“Daddy…” Luna asks him, “why are we hiding from mommy and from uncle Black Bolt? Did you do something bad when you took the mists?”

He gestures for her to sit down next to him. “I had every right to take them. The mists are a natural resource – Black Bolt is wrong to keep them only for Inhumans.” He waves at the crystals in their container, “The mutants who lost their powers need the mists of Terrigen. I’m going to give them back their powers, Luna, we’re going to Genosha.”

***

Genosha is a complete mess, the way it was when he was here convincing Wanda to change the world. It’s odd, to see it like this even though this is what he’s used to – he just can’t stop thinking how magnificent it was in Wanda’s world. Perhaps that’s how it could have been here, too – if it weren’t for humans. _Careful, Pietro – you’re starting to sound like your father_.

The first mutant they encounter is Callisto. She looks like she is not even connected to reality – her eyes wide and unfocused and her voice monotone and unfeeling. Pietro feels for her immediately – this is what he was like when he lost his powers. When Callisto was a mutant, she had superhuman senses – she could hear, see and feel _everything_. Now she feels nothing. Luna looks at her with her emphatic vision and concludes that Callisto is self-harming in order to feel something. _I understand,_ he wants to say, _I know how it feels_.

A part of him is screaming at him that he shouldn’t be exposing Luna to this sort of suffering – she is only seven years old. But a larger part is screaming that he needs to fix mutantkind – needs to save them because it’s his fault they’re broken.

So he uses the crystals to give Callisto back her powers and sees how she rejoices in _feeling_ again. He tells her to bring him the other depowered mutants on Genosha, and she agrees, running off to find them. She brings back a group of seven mutants and Pietro exposes them too to the mists. He watches their delight as their powers return – _see, I am doing a good thing. I am doing the right thing. I am fixing them._

“You see, Luna?” He says to his daughter. “This is just the beginning. Soon, all the former mutants of the world will flock to me, and I will restore them all.”

“Yes,” Luna says, watching the mutants. “But I think… I think there’s something _wrong_.”

One of the girls – a girl with the ability to summon and control spirits of the dead – lets out a sudden scream. Pietro watches as two spirits – evil and shrivelled spirits – attack her, screaming names at her. The girl falls to the ground in shock, clutching her head. “That isn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t want those spirits back.”

“Don’t worry.” He tells her. “There may be a few anomalies in your restored powers, but –”

“Tell them the truth, Pietro!” A voice commands, angrily.

Pietro spins round to see Magneto walking towards them – he carries an unconscious Callisto in his arms. “The mists of Terrigen are not a cure; they are a _curse_!” his father tells them all, angrily. “My son has poisoned you!”

Luna runs up to her grandfather – a man she barely knows – “What’s wrong with Callisto?”

“She told me your father restored her mutant power. But it was different. Her senses became _too_ acute. She couldn’t stand the pain, so she shut it out. She’s gone into a deep coma.”

_No… how could this happen?_

“She was fine when she left us.” He says, reaching towards her. “Let me see her.”

Magneto lashes out at him, cracking him hard in the face. “Stay away from her!” his father shouts at him, “you ruin everything you touch!”

Pietro clutches his jaw which throbs with pain, “Well I suppose that should come as no surprise. The last time we met you _killed_ me.” He smirks, “only this time, you are not Lord Magneto. You are just a man – and I am not.”

_I have suffered under this man for my whole adult life. No more._

He rushes at his father, punching him hundreds of times before he’s even realised Pietro has moved. “I owe you this,” he says as his beats his father to the ground. “I owe you this a hundred times over.”

“No! Stop it!” Luna grabs at him, desperate and scared. “Stop hurting him!”

One of the restored mutants grabs his shoulder, “She’s right. I don’t know what your problem is, but he’s had enough.”

“All I ever wanted to do was please him,” Pietro says bitterly, to no-one in particular. “He barely acknowledged my existence.” He stands over Magneto, broken and bleeding on the floor, “Have you noticed me now!”

His daughter is crouching by Magneto’s head, a hand on his face. “But he’s not a bad person. I can see… he’s just very sad.” Her eyes glow, “I think I can help you, grandfather. I can take away the sadness.”

Magneto groans, “W-what are you…” He sits up suddenly, grabbing Luna’s hand and pushing it away from him, “Get out of my head!”

“I – I was trying to help.” She protests.

Magneto leans in towards her, “By taking my ability to _feel_? You were shutting down parts of my mind. You must _never_ do that to _anyone_.”

“You mean I can’t use my powers?” Luna asks, sadly.

_How dare he? What right has Magneto got to command others now – he is just a human._

“Don’t listen to him, Luna.” Pietro tells her. “You’ve only had your powers for a short while – you’ll learn to use them without harming anyone.”

Magneto looks at him in horror, “Her powers came from the mists! You used them on your own daughter! What kind of monster have you become?”

_How dare he? I have gifted Luna what she deserves! She is unharmed – she is better, now. I am better, now._

“Don’t you ever tell me how to raise my child!” Pietro screams at his father – a man who _killed_ his own son. “Go! Get out of here! Crawl back to whatever rathole you’ve been hiding in!” he locks eyes with the man, “If I see you again, I _swear_ I will kill you!”

“Please…” Luna whispers. “Please don’t fight.”

He ignores her, about to shout another tirade of abuse when Luna runs suddenly away from him. “Kris!” she calls, relieved, and Pietro looks up to see that Kristoff has appeared in the ruins of Genosha. He didn’t hear him arrive – teleportation, no doubt – but he has no idea how long the boy has been standing there, or how much he overheard.

_Why are you worried about what he overheard? Is it because you know what you’re doing is wrong – that you are hurting your daughter, and others?_

_Of course I’m not hurting anyone_ , he thinks.

“Pietro,” Kristoff says firmly. “Crystalia Amaquelin of the Inhumans has enlisted the help of the Fantastic Four in finding your daughter. Let me take her to them, please.”

“No! Luna is fine here! I’m her father, I deserve to spend time with her too!”

Kristoff has his hands on Luna’s shoulders, and the girl has her head pressed against his hip – looking away from Pietro. “Look around you, Pietro. Look at what you’ve done – Callisto is in a coma, you nearly beat your father to death and Luna is crying. You’re scaring your own daughter.”

He looks at Luna and sees Kristoff is right – she is crying. “I – Luna just doesn’t understand… she’s too young. She has powers now – I gave them to her… she’s fine… she wants to be on Earth with me…”

“Dad,” Kristoff says, quietly and meaningfully, “let me take my sister to her mother – you’re not in your right mind. Remember what you told me – about when Luna was younger? You told me that you nearly exposed her to the mists _then_ but realised how wrong it would be. You were horrified when you told me about it – ashamed how your selfishness had nearly hurt your daughter. I know you would never do this to her of your own free will – you are ill, please… please just let me take Luna to her mother and everything will be okay. I promise.”

He can’t stop looking at Kristoff. His son. Luna is his firstborn, but Kristoff is his eldest child. His cunning, kind and compassionate boy. His biological father did not want him and the man who raised him is a supervillain and yet he is such a perfect child. Kristoff and Luna… his children – the only two people in his life who have never hurt or betrayed him. And they the only people he has never hurt –

Except Luna is crying. His baby girl is crying… because of _him_. Oh God… what has he _done_ …

“Kristoff,” he whispers, horrified, “what have I done… please… please take her away from me… tell Crystal I am sorry I –”

He collapses to his knees in shock, tears streaming down his face. He feels like something in him has snapped, feels like his mind was trapped in darkness but now he is free. Now he can see clearly the mess he has made, see the people he has hurt and the unforgivable things he has done – done even to his daughter, Luna.

_No child should ever be afraid of their parents. Is that who I am now? Someone who reduces their own daughter to tears? I am as cruel as my own father._

_Magneto was right – I am a monster._

***

Pietro does what he always does when he finds himself in trouble – he runs. He ends up in Transia, at the base of Wundagore Mountain. _I could go up to the citadel… could see Bova and the Knights_. He doesn’t, though. They would have too many questions, and how would he answer them? How would he tell someone like Bova – someone good and loving and who sees the best in him – the horrible things he has done?

It does not take long for Kristoff to find him.

“Is Luna safe?” That’s the first thought he has. “Is she okay?”

Kristoff nods. “She is with her mother; they think that there are no adverse effects from her exposure to the crystals.”

_So there is one good thing, then._

Kristoff pauses. “I think you should come back to Latveria with me – father will need to run tests on you, too. Luna was lucky – she is half Inhuman – but you are a mutant, and so far no mutants have had a good reaction to the crystals.”

“I don’t want to see Victor.” _I especially do not want to see Latveria and walk the hallways of a castle I lived a perfect life in not too long ago._

“Why?” Kristoff asks him. “Is it because you remember the other world?”

Pietro smiles slightly – he should not forget how perceptive his son is. He does not want to answer that, though, so he says, “Do _you_ remember the other world?”

“Yes,” Kristoff answers, simply.

“We were happy – all of us, together.” _He and Victor were married. Victor’s face was fixed – not that that matters to me, but it would have mattered to him. Kristoff and Luna were our children – both of our children – and they lived with us. Victor’s mother, even, was alive and lived with us. My father had what he wanted – a world where mutants ruled – and he had his family with him. Jean and Wanda were married – like they are here – but they had their boys back. My other sister Lorna was with us too – part of the family the way she is not quite here._

Quietly, Kristoff says, “We could be like that again.”

“Can we?” he asks, desperately. “Your father is still a bad man.” He laughs bitterly, “And I know how hypocritical it is of me to say that after what I’ve done but –”

“No… it’s – I understand.”

The two of them stand there silently for a few minutes. Then Kristoff turns to him and says, “My father told me that he has some information he thinks would be relevant to you. He would not tell me what it was but said that you would find it when you return to your apartment.”

He furrows his brow, wondering what information Doctor Doom could possible have that might be relevant to him. “I will look out for it.”

Cautiously, he brings his son into a hug. “Thank you,” he tells him, resting his chin in Kristoff’s hair because the boy is still smaller than him. “You saved me from myself. I do not dare to think what horrors I could have unleashed if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“It’s okay,” Kristoff mumbles.

“You should return to your father,” he tells him, pulling back. He places a kiss on his forehead, “Stay safe.”

“You too… dad.”

***

Back at his apartment, Pietro finds the ‘information’ his son had mentioned. It comes in the form of two files left on his kitchen counter. One is labelled William Kaplan, and the other Thomas Shepherd. _William and Thomas_? _What could this be?_

He brings them into his bedroom and spreads the files across his bed.

William Kaplan is a sixteen-year-old mutant from New York. He belongs to a team Pietro has not heard of who call themselves the Young Avengers. William’s exact mutant power seems hard to work out as the boy has a whole list of powers that he’s tapped into. The one that stands out the most to Pietro is ‘reality warping’.

Thomas Shepherd is also sixteen and a mutant, but he is from New Jersey. He has also recently joined the Young Avengers, but before that he was in a high-powered facility equipped to deal with superpowered criminals. Thomas’ crime was apparently the destruction of his high school with his powers. Thomas’ powers are not quite as extensive as William’s but include telekinesis and something referred to as ‘molecular acceleration’.

What is most intriguing, are the photographs included in the files. They include high school yearbook photos of both boys as well as Thomas’ photo taken when in police custody and several stills of them both with the Young Avengers taken from CCTV footage. It is clear what the photos are supposed to show – the boys are identical twins, even if they are not listed as adopted and each have separate biological families of their own. William’s hair is brown, and Thomas’ the exact same silver as Pietro’s own. He stares at the photos until his eyes ache – could… could these really be his nephews? It seems impossible, but he’s sure Victor would not send him these files if the man did not think the same.

He has no idea what to do about this information. Should he tell Jean? Does she already know? And if she doesn’t, how could he break it to her that the sons she once had seem to have grown up in their own families with parents who weren’t her.

And of course, his sister is still missing. In all his selfishness with the Terrigen crystals that detail had somehow slipped his mind. _I’ll tell Jean,_ he decides, _but only after I’ve found my sister_.

***

_“Did you receive the information I sent you?” Victor asks him when Pietro dreams that night._

_He nods. “Yes, thank you.”_

_Victor hums. “I thought it would interest you – it interested me when I stumbled across it.”_

_“Do I want to know where you stumbled across it?”_

_“Not if you would like plausible deniability.” Victor tells him. The man pauses for a few moments before asking, “Will you attempt to make contact with them? My surveillance tells me that they are aware of their potential origin.”_

_Pietro is surprised to hear that. “I do not think it would be right to contact them without my sister’s knowledge… I just wish I knew where she was.”_

_“I have been looking,” Victor tells him, “But there have been no signs – her magic is usually traceable but there is nothing. Though, of course, it is very possible her own powers have diminished, after the spell she cast on mutantkind.”_

_Pietro had not considered that possibility and he wonders how Wanda would cope without her powers – probably much better than he did. Wanda would maybe even be glad to be rid of them – after what happened when she lost control of them._

_“Perhaps you should make contact with William and Thomas anyhow,” Victor tells him. “They may have a connection to their mother – William especially – and may be able to help you find her.”_

***

Loathe as Pietro is in general to follow the advice of his soulmate, he must admit that this time the man has a point. So he tracks the Young Avengers down and goes to talk to them.

The team have made their base in an abandoned warehouse, so it takes no effort to break in. He does consider knocking but figures he will receive the same reception however he choses to present himself to them.

The first one to notice him is the girl who calls herself Hawkeye – Kate Bishop. When she aims an arrow at him and lets fire, he catches it easily. “There is no need to attack, Kate Bishop. I am merely here to speak with William Kaplan and Thomas Shepherd.”

Kate doesn’t seem phased by his easy avoidance of her first arrow, loading another one into her bow. “Yeah that’s not gonna happen,” she tells him. “You just broke into our –”

“No, it’s fine,” interrupts William, who is standing across the room. “This is Quicksilver – the Scarlet Witch’s twin – he might… he might know something about her and… _us_.”

Kate scowls, but puts down her bow. “Fine but be careful – I heard that Quicksilver poisoned some mutants in Genosha or something recently.”

Pietro grimaces. “An accident, I assure you. I had… lost myself, shall we say, after my powers disappeared on M-Day.”

“Yeah well,” Kate says, eyeing him suspiciously, “your powers seem to be working just fine now.”

“Kate,” William says, firmly. “Please could you go get Tommy.”

The teenager rolls her eyes, “Sure thing – just keep your wits about you.” Kate leaves the room, heading to some other part of the warehouse to fetch Thomas.

William stares at him, and Pietro shifts uncomfortably under his gaze. “So…” the boy says. “How did you find us?”

“I followed you here,” Pietro admits, “You should be more careful – anyone could find you here.”

William flushes, “Right.” He pauses, and then says, “But I meant more like how did you find _us_ – me and Tommy – I mean I’m guessing that you’re here because you think that… that we’re your nephews or whatever, right?”

“Yes,” he agrees, “and as for how I found out about you both… I saw you on the news and knew that something was… _different_ about the two of you.” He isn’t sure why he lies, really, but it’s mostly because he gets the impression that William might freak out if he tells the teenager Doctor Doom was the one who found them out.

“Hey Billy,” Thomas says, walking into the room, “Kate said you wanted to –” he cuts off, staring at Pietro in surprise. “– woah wait a second… what’s _he_ doing here?” Thomas does not sound best pleased to see him, the word _he_ pronounced with a particular venom.

“Tommy –” William tries, but Thomas cuts him off.

“No!” He snaps, “This is about your stupid theory that we’re the Scarlet Witch’s kids again, isn’t it? And now you’ve dragged an Avenger into this? No! This needs to stop!”

William clenches his jaw but says nothing. Pietro watches them and tries to bite back a smile – it is only siblings who act in such a way.

“Thomas,” he says, calmly, “I believe your brother –

“He’s not my brother.”

Pietro sighs, “I believe _William_ is correct, I believe you both could very well be the sons of my sister and her soulmate.”

“Oh yeah?” Thomas challenges, “And why’d you think that? ‘Cos we have some similar powers and look the same? That proves nothing.”

“No,” he says. “I believe it because the smartest man I know – one of the smartest men in the world, even – believes it, and I am inclined to believe him too.”

William looks at him suspiciously, “Who’d you mean?”

“Reed Richards,” he lies, easily.

Thomas crosses his arms, “I don’t care _who_ believes _what_ – if the Scarlet Witch is our mom where the fuck is she, huh? Where was she when my mom and dad were drunk and screaming at each other and throwing plates against the wall? Where was she when I was in and out of juvie ‘cos I just wanted to get away from my parents? Where was she when I got dumped in a fucking _torture_ facility where they tried to turn me into a _weapon_?”

“Tommy –” William tries, reaching out to touch him but the boy flinches back.

“No.” He says, fiercely. “You can keep your idyllic little fantasy about the Scarlet Witch being your mom – as if you don’t already have a perfect family – but don’t fucking drag me into it, okay?” Thomas storms out the room, slamming the door behind him which then promptly explodes making William and Pietro flinch.

Pietro stares at where the door used to be and William turns to him awkwardly, “Sorry about Tommy he’s uh… he’s had a hard life.”

“So I see.” Pietro is sure the facility Thomas was at before being broken out of must be listed in the boy’s file which is still in his apartment. He makes a note to himself about finding this so called ‘facility’ which apparently tortures _children_ and shutting it down.

William looks towards the door, a worried expression gracing his face. “I should go after him…”

“No,” he says, “let me.”

William looks wary but allows Pietro to walk off through the warehouse to try and locate his maybe-sort-of nephew.

It doesn’t take him long to find the boy – he’s sitting out the back of the warehouse, on the floor, leaning his head back against the wall.

“Perhaps next time you should use your powers to phase through the door – instead of blowing it up.” Pietro suggests, coming to sit down next to Thomas.

Thomas looks at him distastefully, “You still here?”

“I can leave if you wish.”

“Whatever,” the boy mutters, “I don’t care either way.”

They sit in silence for a while.

“Billy doesn’t realise how _lucky_ he is,” Thomas murmurs, “he grew up with a good family – a mom and dad who loved each other and who loved their kids – so why is he looking so hard to find another one?”

“Perhaps William wants to make sure _you_ have a family.” Pietro says.

“I don’t _need_ a family,” Thomas snaps, “I’m fine by myself!”

“No one is fine by themselves,” Pietro says, “believe me – I know.”

“Whatever,” Thomas mutters. Pietro thinks he isn’t going to get much more out of the boy, but then Thomas sits up slightly and turns to him. “What’d you mean about phasing through the door instead of blowing it up?”

“Hmm?” he blinks at the change in topic. “Oh. Well… you are able to vibrate your molecules, aren’t you? That’s how you made the door explode?”

Thomas rubs the back of his neck, “I didn’t _mean_ to make it explode but yeah, that’s how it works.”

“Well if you vibrate your molecules fast enough, you should be able to move through solid objects. Look, watch me,” Pietro starts to vibrate his hand, and when it turns into a blur he passes it through the wall they are leaning against and pulls it out again. “See?”

Thomas looks impressed, though hides it quickly. “Huh.” Thomas follows his example – Pietro isn’t quite sure how the boy is able to vibrate his molecules without superspeed, but he supposes mutant powers never really make sense. When the boy’s hand is a blur he shoves it hastily into the wall, but when he pulls it back again the concrete explodes sending them both ducking for cover on the floor. When they dare to look, there is a large hole in the wall. “Oops,” Thomas says, sheepishly.

Pietro bites back a smile, “I’m sure you will get the hang of it with a bit of practice.” As much as Pietro would love to spend his time teaching Thomas to use his powers less destructively, he really does wish to discuss the possibility that this is his _nephew_. “I know you are… _hesitant_ , to believe that my sister is your mother, but I was wondering if you knew why so far William has only referred to the Scarlet Witch, and not Jean Grey? They would both be his mothers and yet I only hear him mention my sister.”

Thomas shrugs, “I guess he just feels more connected to her – your sister, that is – ‘cos their powers are so similar. Or maybe he hasn’t even realised that Jean Grey would also be his mom if this whole story is true – he’s pretty one-track minded.”

“I contemplated bringing Jean here, to meet you both,” Pietro admits, “but I chose not to… I suppose I did not want to give her false hope. But now I wish I had – if she were here, if she saw you both – I’m sure she would know straight away if you were her sons.”

Thomas looks away, at the ground, “I thought about going to her – when Billy started talking about this whole thing. I… I saw her on the news, once – when I was younger – and I thought she looked so… so _kind_. Even then I thought _that’s what a mom should look like_. But then I thought about turning up on her doorstep claiming to be her dead son or whatever and I thought about how _cruel_ that would be.” Thomas lets out a bitter laugh, “I mean imagine your sons have been reincarnated or whatever and then you open the door expecting to see your perfect boys and you just see _me_.”

“Thomas,” Pietro says, concerned at the self-loathing in the boy’s voice. “Believe me when I say that if you had turned up on her doorstep, Jean would have been _overjoyed_ to meet you. She would love you unconditionally, as you deserve.”

Thomas flushes, “Yeah… whatever.”

Pietro raises his eyebrows at him, “Oh? So you do not believe me?” He stands up, offering Thomas a hand to help him to his feet. “Come on, then.”

Thomas furrows his brow, “What? Where are you going?”

“Where are _we_ going,” Pietro corrects, “and we are going to knock on Jean Grey’s front door, and we are going to tell her that you and William are her sons.”

“No,” Thomas says, incredulously, “Did you _not_ hear a word I just said?”

“I heard every word,” Pietro says, easily, “and all of it was ridiculous which is why I’m going to prove you wrong right now.”

Pietro goes to move away, but Thomas grabs him, “No! We can’t just… show up!”

“Hmm,” Pietro hums, “yes, of course… we should take William too.”

“No! That isn’t what I –”

Pietro grips the boy by his shoulders. “Thomas. This is a conversation that is going to have to happen sooner or later – wouldn’t you rather it be now, in a controlled environment instead of later when it inevitably leaks out and the Avengers come storming in here or someone _worse_?” _Doctor Doom already knows – how long till some other villain works it out and comes storming in here to kill the sons of the Scarlet Witch, the woman responsible for M-Day?_

“I – I guess,” Thomas mutters, “but when this all goes to shit I’m blaming _you_.”

He releases the boy, “Fair enough. Come, then – go fetch your brother.”

***

When Jean Grey opens the front door, Pietro is standing there with William and Thomas – all three of them dressed in normal clothes and not their uniforms.

Jean blinks at them all for several seconds, “Pietro…” she glares at him slightly, “you’ve been ignoring me for months!”

He winces, “About that –

“And your powers have returned, how did –”

He doesn’t know how Jean knows that, but he doesn’t really want to explain how it happened on her doorstep, “Look, we have a lot to catch up on – can we come in?”

“I don’t even know who _we_ is,” Jean says, but then her eyes slide over the two boys and she gasps, “your… your _minds_ it’s like… like…” She can’t even bring herself to finish her thought.

“Like your sons?” William asks, quietly, “Like William and Thomas’?”

Jean nods silently, a slightly scared look on her face, but she steps aside and gestures for them to come in. She leads them into the living room, and they all sit down – Pietro and the boys on one side, Jean on the other.

“Um,” William starts, after it’s clear no one wishes to begin, “I don’t really know how to say this so maybe you could just… read our minds?”

“No,” Jean says, slowly, “no I do not think I need to. Somehow… somehow the two of you are my boys.”

William glances at Thomas, but the silver-haired boy says nothing. “Yes,” William says, quietly, “that is… that is what we think but we aren’t –”

“You aren’t sure?” Jean asks, shakily. “It does not matter – _I_ am sure. I would like to think that I would know my children anywhere, and you two are certainly them… even if the last time I saw you both you were much smaller.” She laughs, and tears start to fall from her eyes. “Oh look at that, I’m crying – you must forgive me… I – I have missed you both very much.”

William gets up slowly and moves across to his… his mother. Pietro watches as the boy cautiously brings Jean into a hug, and the woman laughs again and grasps him tightly. Pietro nudges Thomas to do the same, but he stays seated.

“What did I tell you?” Pietro says, raising his eyebrows at his nephew because he _told_ Thomas that Jean would be delighted to see them. “Go on, give your mother a hug.”

Slowly – awkwardly – Thomas moves over to Jean too and she must sense his hesitancy because she brings Thomas into a fierce embrace. “My beautiful boy,” she murmurs, bringing a hand up to his cheek. “Look at you, look how much you’ve grown. Oh I wish Wanda were here… she would be… she would be amazed to see you both.”

Pietro sighs, “We need to find her, Jean. The longer she is missing the more worried I get that the Avengers or the X-Men will find her first – and we know what _they_ will do to her.”

“I have tried looking with my powers,” Jean says, “but there is nothing – no trace of her at all.” She shakes her head, “I suppose we can only be grateful for that, though – it means other telepaths won’t be able to find her either.”

“I used my powers too,” William adds, quietly, “but nothing happened.”

Despite the sombre mood, Jean looks suddenly delighted. “Oh William, you have powers? And you too, Thomas?”

The boys both nod, and Jean smiles brightly – a smile Pietro hasn’t seen since they were in the other reality. “Tell me everything!”

***

When Pietro returns home that evening, he feels better than he has in a long time. He should not have ignored Jean for so long – that was cruel – and he is glad to be on good terms with his sister-in-law again. And William and Thomas; Pietro is sure he is still processing the fact that he has _nephews_ again.

 _It is a strange thing_ , he thinks, _to have a family again_. And then he thinks, _Victor gave me back my family… if it hadn’t have been for him who knows if I would have ever found William and Thomas…_

That is a very strange thought indeed, and he is so caught up in his thoughts that he almost trips over the vase of flowers that is set slightly inside of his front door. He stares down at it as if it has personally offended him before cautiously picking it up and placing it on his kitchen counter. It probably says a lot about Pietro’s life that he is so used to receiving strange gifts that he does not feel the need to check if it is harmful in any way.

Pietro does not know enough about flowers to judge the ones now on his kitchen counter, but they are odd looking – they are long stemmed and do not seem to be in bloom yet. He notices a small card tucked between the stems and fishes it out. 

_These are Latverian orchids – they are unique in that they only bloom at night. I did not even know they existed until recently; perhaps you do not remember but they graced a vase in our bedroom in that other reality. I had to seek them out atop the Latverian mountains and then cultivate them in my greenhouses; many coloured varieties of them exist now but I have sent you the white ones as they remind me of you. I hope they bring memories of a better world, the way they do for me._

He stands there for several minutes, staring down at the card in disbelief. Pietro assumed that his soulmate would remember Wanda’s reality too – Kristoff had, after all – but he never thought that the man would _mention_ it to him, never mind insinuating that he _missed_ that reality.

Pietro tucks the card away safely – under the only photograph he has of his soulmate – and returns to the kitchen. He should go to sleep because it is late, and he is emotionally exhausted after the day he has had but instead he perches himself on one of the chairs at the counter and watches his flowers.

When the sky outside is dark, the flowers unfold slowly and secretly. When they are fully bloomed they look _beautiful_. Pietro gets up and turns the lights off, and in the darkened apartment they glow softly – ethereally. He ends up sitting there the whole night, falling asleep on his kitchen counter because he does not want to walk away from them.

***

Months later, and Pietro is no closer to finding his sister and he is starting to accept that he should stop looking – not because he does not want to find her, but because obviously his sister does not want to be found at the moment.

It is just as he is accepting this, that Victor reaches out to him in his dreams to tell him that he has found Wanda. Or, more accurately, Wanda found _him_.

“She has amnesia,” Victor tells him, in his sleep, “she does not remember you or Jean or her sons. She does not remember she had powers and she does not remember being the Scarlet Witch. I would advise you to come and speak to her yourself – bring the others, too – it is the only way I can see her memory returning to her.”

So Pietro rushes over to Jean’s house to share the news. It is not ideal that his sister does not remember anything, but he is hopeful her memory will return to her. And he thinks his soulmate has the right idea – to surround her with her family – so he asks Jean and the boys to come to Latveria with him to speak to her.

They – understandably – are very confused when he tells them that Doctor Doom has custody of their long-lost mother.

“So she’s a prisoner?” Thomas surmises. “We have to rescue her?” 

“Uh… no,” Pietro says, awkwardly, “it’s not… it’s not like _that_ –”

“It’s Doctor Doom,” William says, confused, “how else would it be like?”

“Victor Von Doom is Pietro’s soulmate,” Jean cuts in, smoothly, “so I am sure that your mother is in good hands until we arrive there to bring her home. Come on, go get changed so we can leave.”

William and Thomas gape at Pietro in shock.

“Wait so –”

“Does this mean –”

Thomas and William both speak at the same time, and Pietro grimaces at whatever their questions will be. Thankfully, Jean claps loudly, “Boys! I’m sure whatever questions you have for your uncle can wait! Go and get ready to leave – we are going to meet your mother, or have you so easily forgotten?”

The boys glance at each other, clearly brimming with questions but at the same time not being brave enough to defy their mother. They leave the room, rushing upstairs to get whatever they need.

Jean turns to him, “Pietro… I know what I said to the boys, but you know I have to ask: do you believe Doom? Do you believe Wanda is safe there, or if she is even there at all? Is there any part of you that thinks this may be a trap? Because if there is, we will have to bring backup.”

Pietro is embarrassed to admit that the thought it could be a trap had not even entered his mind. _Could it be a trap?_ He doesn’t think so… what would be the point?

“I think he is telling the truth,” he answers, carefully. “There is nothing I see him gaining from setting a trap like this, and Victor does not do things without a chance of him gaining something in return.”

“And what does he gain from keeping Wanda safe?”

He does not have an answer for that.

Jean looks at him intently. He wonders what she sees in his mind. Finally, she says, “Perhaps what he seeks to gain is your favour.”

Oh. He hadn’t thought of it like that. Pietro had sort of thought they were still at the impasse they reached several years ago – that neither of them would change for the other. _But that was before you came to see Kristoff as your own son, and before Victor and I saw what our lives could be like if we were together._

Could Jean be right? Victor _has_ been unusually helpful lately, and he sent Pietro _flowers_ with that _card_ and – _oh god, I think she may be right._

***

The four of them cannot use a Quinjet or the Blackbird to reach Latveria because obviously they do not want the Avengers or the X-Men knowing where Wanda is, so they are reduced to taking an aeroplane.

William and Thomas are both sixteen but the two of them act like young children – wide eyed and excited to fly on a plane because the two of them have never left the country before. Jean watches them both with a hidden smile. Pietro is glad the three of them are happy because _he_ is having a slight mental breakdown.

Not only is his mind racing with the idea that his soulmate might _actually_ want to act like his soulmate for once in his life, but he _also_ has to sit still on a plane for nearly 12 hours. _Even when Victor is not being evil he is torturing me,_ he muses.

When their plane touches down in Latveria, it is dark. Even so, they are greeted at the airport by Kristoff. The other passengers on their plane seem very surprised to see their prince waiting at the airport, and glance at him wide-eyed as they pass him. He does not seem phased, however, and merely breaks into a grin when he notices them.

“Dad!” Pietro is slightly surprised by the enthusiastic greeting, and wonders if the people around them understand what Kristoff is saying – would it not be odd for normal Latverians to hear their prince call someone else his father? “I am glad to see you are looking well,” Kristoff continues, “much better than the last time I saw you, at least.”

“I do not look well now?” he asks.

Kristoff hums, “You look sort of like you are about to explode.”

“Hm,” Pietro says, “well that is what twelve hours on a plane will do to a speedster.”

Kristoff grins, and looks behind Pietro at Jean and the boys. “It is good to meet you, Jean Grey – in this reality, anyways. And you too, William and Thomas – though you were much younger the last time I saw you.”

“So we’ve heard,” mutters Thomas, and William nudges him to be silent.

“I’m sorry,” William says, politely, “and you are?”

“Oh!” Kristoff says, embarrassed, “I apologise – I did not introduce myself – I am Kristoff Von Doom.” He makes a sweeping gesture, “Come, I will lead you to the castle – my father is waiting for you there.”

Pietro notices that William and Thomas glance at each other warily but he supposes it is only natural for them to be on guard in Doctor Doom’s territory. He is more relaxed; he’s glad to be on solid ground again so he can stretch his legs. And he’s relieved that he will finally be reunited with his sister – even if, as Victor says, she will not remember them.

The airport is located relatively close to the castle, though it is tucked away out of sight. When they exit they can see the castle looming ahead of them, and Kristoff navigates his way expertly through a myriad of streets until they reach the town square. And then from there he leads them up the rocky incline that leads to Kristoff’s home.

Victor is by the front entrance to greet them and his son. He explains the situation as he leads them through the throne room of the castle and across many hallways. “Wanda Maximoff came to me asking for help – she was with some Roma from Transia who were escaping persecution in their own country and who sought help here in Latveria. You can imagine my surprise when she turned up on my doorstep, but it quickly became evident that she did not possess any memories of her life as the Scarlet Witch.”

Victor leads them up a staircase and they come out in a cosier looking area of the castle. “I have had your mother stay in the castle. I do not know how long it will take for her to regain her memories, though I am hopeful particularly because of your abilities, Jean. And you too, William.”

Jean frowns, “how are we to explain to her who we are if she does not even know parts of her life are missing?”

“Even if she does not know what memories she is missing, your name is still on her wrist. We will tell her the truth – that you are her soulmate and I contacted you on Wanda’s behalf. I am hoping that that will be enough to jog her memories – perhaps aided by your telepathy, if need be.”

Victor stops them all in front of a dark oak door. “Wanda is in here – you will knock and wait for her summons to allow yourself in. My son will make the introductions.”

“You are not coming in?” Jean asks, surprised.

“No,” Victor says, glancing at Pietro. “I would speak with my soulmate, if he wishes.”

Pietro blinks in surprise, “I – of course.” He wants to see his sister, but he supposes there is no urgency to see Wanda if she will not even remember who he is. And he knows that she will probably be overwhelmed to meet Jean and the boys all at once, anyway.

Victor gestures for Pietro to follow him, and the two of them move away from Wanda’s room further up the hallway. “When Wanda came to me,” Victor begins, almost cautiously, “she was accompanied by an older woman who your sister referred to as her mother.”

That is not at all what Pietro expected his soulmate to say. He stares at him for several seconds, alarmed. “No,” he says, finally, “no… our birth mother is dead – I have seen her faded name on Magneto’s wrist – and the mother who raised us was killed when Wanda and I were younger.”

Victor hums, “Yes, I remember you saying so and I was rightly suspicious too.” He pauses, eyeing Pietro carefully. “However, this woman called herself Marya and I know that was your mother’s name. And she had burns – severe burns – that she told me resulted from a fire in which she nearly perished. But most of all she knew things about your sister, and she knew things about _you_ , Pietro. It was Marya who convinced Wanda to come _here_. She told me that she would remember the name Victor Von Doom for as long as she lived, as it was the name on her son’s wrist.”

What his soulmate is saying sounds _ridiculous_ – it sounds _cruel_. Pietro’s mother is dead – Marya is dead. Pietro should have saved her; he and Wanda should have used their powers to save her and Django, but they were terrified children and did not know how to use their abilities and there had been so much chaos…

And yet…

“This woman,” Pietro says, slowly, “she is here too? In the castle?”

“It is where I am leading you, yes.”

Could it be true? Could Marya be alive?

“I will leave you here,” Victor tells him, stopping them both outside a door that is identical in appearance to his sister’s. “I hope that this woman is truly your mother, Pietro. I would not wish to disappoint you in such a profound way.”

Before he can reply, Victor has swept back down the hallway towards Wanda’s room. Pietro is left staring at the door which his mother may be behind. Before he can talk himself out of it, Pietro knocks.

From inside, a voice calls for him to enter – not in English, but in Romani. Slowly he pushes open the door, and steps inside.

The room is large and cosy and adorned with a huge window that looks out on the gardens – ones Pietro has seen in his dreams. There is a four-poster bed with hangings and an elaborate wooden frame that is pushed against one wall. Along another wall is a fireplace with a warm fire burning away inside, and by the fire are two armchairs. In one of them sits an older woman, her hair dark and curly but streaked with grey. She is looking at Pietro, her eyes smiling in recognition. And Pietro looks back in recognition too, because this is his mother – this is Marya – and he cannot quite believe it.

“Mother?” His voice comes out shakily, and the language sticks in his throat because he has not used Romani to converse for many years. “I do not… you are _alive_ but –”

“Pietro,” Marya smiles at him, “come, sit with me before you collapse on the floor – you would not wish to make such a fool of yourself in front of your mother after so many years, would you?”

Silently, he moves over to her and sits in the armchair beside her. The fire is so _warm_ up close, and he leans closer to it. “I have been waiting for you,” Marya continues, joyfully, “waiting to see my little boy again! I thought you would have been living here – with your soulmate – so imagine my surprise when he tells me you are in America!”

“I am… the Avengers are in America – they are –”

“Oh yes,” his mother says, quickly, “he told me all about you – how you are a superhero. Quicksilver, that is your name, isn’t it? You are a… I do not know the word…” she looks at him, to clarify.

“Mutant,” he says, in English and then switches back to Romani, “but I do not think we have a word for it.”

“Mutant,” she repeats, “such an ugly word – I do not like it. All I need to know is that you are _special_ – I always knew you were. You and Wanda were our little miracles so of course I am not surprised to learn how perfect and heroic you both are. You cannot imagine how proud I am of you both!”

Pietro is struggling to understand how his mother is so casual and calm – she speaks of waiting to see him, then why did she never seek he and Wanda out? They thought she was _dead_.

“Mother… why did you never come and find us,” he asks her, a desperate tone in his voice because he has lived for so long without his mother and the whole time she could have been with him. “We thought you were dead – we… we _mourned_ you.”

Marya looks away, “I thought I would die that day too. I was in our wagon and it was set alight and I thought _this is how I will die_.” She looks at him, “But some villager took pity on me and pulled me out of the blaze.” She reaches out for him, taking his hand. “I was very badly injured, and I had to readjust to life as a crippled woman. I did not know where you had gone – I only had the hope that you were alive because you and your sister were not among the dead.” She pauses, contemplating, “And years later I heard people speak of your soulmate – a man who was good to our people – and who lived only a few countries across from Transia. I thought of going to him, because surely he must know of you, but I chose not to. I thought that by then you must have made a new life somewhere better, and you would not want to remember your old mother and the life you left behind.”

Pietro gapes at her, “how could you _think_ that? Wanda and I have spent our whole lives missing you – you are our mother and we thought you were dead. If… if we’d ever known that you were alive we would have came straight to Transia to bring you home to America with us!”

Marya pats his cheek, “you must not take my words personally – I was a bitter and broken woman who was grateful her children had escaped the awful country we lived in. But I am… I am honoured to know you and your sister think so highly of me, and that you never forgot me – especially because, as your soulmate tells me, you know who your true parents are.”

Pietro frowns, “It does not matter who my true parents are – you and Django are my mother and father.” He looks up at her, “you cannot even imagine how amazed I am to see you now in front of me!”

Marya smiles, “if you had seen me a week or so ago you would not be so amazed, believe me. I was so scarred you would probably not have recognised me – but all that is in the past now.”

He furrows his brow, “but you are healed now? How?”

Marya looks surprised, “he did not mention it? How modest of him – I will tell you, then. Your soulmate took great pity on me – he said that he understood how it felt to be scarred in such a significant way; to feel disgust when you look at yourself. He had some sort of technology – I will not pretend to understand how it worked – but it healed my scars and burns. I was so thankful to him, and in awe – I wondered why he did not use his machine to help himself, but he explained to me that his scars were not natural like mine.” She sighs, “poor man, hiding behind that mask…”

Pietro blinks in surprise, “he did this for you? He did not want anything in return?”

Marya looks amused, “what would I have to give him?”

Pietro does not reply – how can he explain to his mother that his soulmate is not always so kind and helpful.

Marya must sense his hesitancy, because she moves swiftly on to another topic. “Tell me about your life, Pietro – and your sister’s, as she did not have her memories to tell me herself.”

“I – I do not quite know where to start…”

“It does not matter!” she insists, smiling, “I want to know everything.”

***

Pietro leaves his mother’s room slightly dazed. He feels as if his whole world has been tipped upside down. Marya… _alive_ – it feels too good to be true.

Victor is waiting for him, in the hallway. “I am glad to see everything went well,” he says, clearly noting the smile on Pietro’s face.

“You knew she was my mother,” Pietro says, because it is clear to him now that that was the case. “But you acted as if you were not sure.”

“Would you have believed me if I had told you?”

“Probably not,” he allows, “she told me what you did for her – how you healed her. Thank you, that was very kind – though I do not see what you gained from such a thing.”

“You are smiling, are you not?”

Pietro flushes, “that has never been motivation for you to do anything before.”

Victor hums. “Yes I suppose that it true.” He does not elaborate further, instead saying, “you will be glad to know that Wanda’s memories have returned. Though I must warn you she is quite… _distressed_ about what she has done to mutantkind – especially to you.”

“Oh.” Pietro frowns, “I thought that may happen… but surely she can fix it? Can she not reverse the spell she cast?”

Victor has an odd expression in his eyes. “I will let her explain everything to you.”

Pietro frowns because Victor sounded _odd_ when he said that, but it is hard to tell what the man is thinking when his expressions are hidden. Fleetingly, he considers asking Victor about his face – about what he had meant when he told Marya his scars were not natural – but he decides against it. His soulmate is acting generous for once in his life, and Pietro does not want to ruin it by bringing up a touchy subject.

When they reach Wanda’s room, the door is wide open, and he can see his sister sitting on her bed with Jean comforting her. The boys stand awkwardly off to the side, accompanied by Kristoff.

“Wanda,” Pietro says, standing slightly in the doorway. “Are you okay?”

His sister leaps up off of the bed, flinging herself into his arms. He catches her, folding her into a hug. “Sister… is everything all right?”

“I am just glad to see you,” she murmurs into his shoulder, “one of the last things I remember is our father killing you… I just am glad to be with you again.”

“Oh,” he says, “well I am glad to see you, too – you have been gone for many months.”

Wanda pulls back from their hug. “Yes, Jean has been filling me in. Is it true you lost your powers, Pietro? I… I never meant for that to happen.”

He looks away. “Yes, it is true. It was… it was horrible, without them. But I am better now, my powers are back.”

His sister looks at him suspiciously, no doubt she wishes to know how it is his powers have returned as obviously no one else’s have. Thankfully she does not say anything, though – she can probably sense he does not want to talk about it.

Wanda sighs. “I have hurt so many people – our people, mutants – and I have to fix it, but I am not sure how.” She moves backwards, joining her soulmate again on the edge of the bed. Pietro follows her, sitting next to her. He thinks _this is how we were sitting when Wanda changed reality_.

From the doorway, his soulmate says, “Wanda… it is my belief that you would be able to use the Life Force to restore the depowered mutants.” Victor is standing just inside the door like he is some sort of intruder even though it is they who are in his home. He locks eyes with Wanda, and some sort of understanding passes between the two of them that Pietro and the others are not privy to.

His sister frowns. “After what happened last time… do you really think that would be such a good idea?”

Jean looks between the two of them and asks what they are all thinking. “Wanda – what is he talking about? What is the Life Force?”

Wanda looks away, towards the floor. “When I learned of my sons’ deaths, I became desperate and sought Doom’s help in bringing them back to life. Doom was not a hero, but he was Pietro’s soulmate so I hoped that maybe he would take pity on me. He was more powerful than other sorcerers I had access to, and he was less conflicted when it came to practicing the darker arts.”

Jean looks surprised – clearly this is the first time she is hearing of such an endeavour.

Pietro looks between the two of them in shock – how could Victor have never mentioned this to him? He fixes his gaze angrily on Victor, but the man avoids his eyes. “I agreed to help Wanda – partially because I pitied her for what happened to her sons but also because she was my soulmate’s sister and I felt some semblance of responsibility for her.” He gestures towards Wanda, “Since Wanda is a nexus being – a living focal point for Earth’s mystical energies – we were able to combine our magicks to access and capture the Life Force itself; the _only_ power that could give her back her sons.”

His sister looks humbled. “But we were naïve to think the Life Force could be so easily contained and manipulated.”

“It _possessed_ Wanda and transformed her into an entity with the reality-shaping abilities of a _God_ ,” Victor continues. “The forces we unleashed that day could not be controlled and resulted in her breakdown that killed some of her teammates and the witch Agatha Harkness.”

Pietro has no words, but thankfully Wanda’s sons do.

“So,” William says, firmly. “What you’re saying is that _you’re_ responsible for Wanda’s crimes?”

“I –”

“No, Billy,” Wanda says, sighing. “I wish it could be that easy, but what happened was just an accident. Perhaps if I had been in a better state when I came here, I would have been able to control the Life Force, but my mind was already damaged at that point from my memories of you both so suddenly returning.”

“Those who attempt to control the Life Force will be consumed by it,” Victor notes. “Which is why we should expend it by restoring mutantkind with their powers and then we can be rid of it once and for all.”

“You mean it’s still _inside_ her?” Jean asks, horrified.

“Until it is removed, yes.”

“Then _remove_ it.” Pietro says, harshly. Wanda might be all too willing to wave away Victor’s involvement, but he isn’t. And to think Pietro had been beginning to think the man had _changed_!

Wanda lays a hand on his arm. “I think I would rather do what he suggests, Pietro. If I can get rid of this power whilst also helping to undo the suffering I have caused, then I will gladly do it.”

William frowns. “I don’t think we should just go along with what Doctor Doom is saying,” – he glances awkwardly at Victor – “uh, no offence…”

“None taken,” Victor says, easily, “I understand your hesitance, of course, but it is the only way I can see that your mother will be able to restore those who were depowered on M-Day – she would not be powerful enough to do such a thing without the Life Force.”

Jean looks intently at her wife. “Is this really what you want to do, Wanda?”

Wanda nods, determined. “I owe this to the people I have hurt.” She stands up and looks toward her sons. “But Billy is right – I cannot trust that Doom will not take the Life Force for himself – so I would like for Billy to use his powers as a safeguard.”

William looks surprised. “Really? You want _me_ to help?”

“Of course,” Wanda says, “Jean tells me you’re an accomplished sorcerer in your own right.”

William flushes with pride, “I… yeah, I guess.”

“Very well,” Victor says, “I suggest that we reconvene later in the day – the evening is best for sorcery, of course – and I’m sure that you would all like some time to rest after the long journey here.”

“Yes,” Jean says, reasonably. “I think that would be a good idea.” She turns to her wife as if knowing Wanda will protest, “it would be good to rest – your powers and memories have only just returned, you should not stretch their limits straight away.”

“If you insist.” Wanda says, fondly. “And I suppose it would give me time to reconnect with my sons.”

“So we are all in agreement?” Victor asks. “Good. Pietro you can follow me to your –”

“I am not following you anywhere,” he says, trying to keep a lid on his anger. “My sister may forgive your meddling, but I am not so easily placated.”

His soulmate does not show any surprise, or anger, he just inclines his head in understanding and turns to his son. “Kristoff, I would very much appreciate it if you showed Pietro to his room.”

“Of course,” Kristoff replies, though he eyes the two of them warily as if he thinks they will start a fight in the middle of Wanda’s bedroom. He moves from his position leaning against the wall and gestures to Pietro. “Follow me.”

***

“I hope that you are not too angry with father,” Kristoff begins, as they exit the hallway where Wanda and Marya’s rooms are located. “I assure you his intentions were not malicious towards Wanda in anyway.”

Pietro scowls. “So he did not want this power of the Life Force for himself?”

Kristoff hesitates, and that is all the proof Pietro needs. “He did not want to harm your sister,” his son says again. “As for the Life Force I can only assume that he saw Wanda as a means to gaining such power, but it is not as if he wouldn’t have given her what she wanted too. Her sons are alive, aren’t they?”

Pietro did not consider that – he supposes that whatever Wanda and Victor had done must have worked, for William and Thomas to be here today. Even so, he will not tolerate people exploiting his sister’s vulnerabilities. “And what would he have done with this power? Remake reality in his image?”

“Probably,” Kristoff allows, and looks at him seriously, “but is that any different than what you did with Wanda? Didn’t you use her powers to remake reality how the two of you wanted it to be?”

“That was in order to save her life!” Pietro says, sharply. “Victor does not do such things for benevolent reasons! He wishes only for power.”

Kristoff seems mollified by that. They continue walking through the castle. Pietro notices that they seem to have entered a new part of it and questions his son where they are going.

“The area your sister and mother were staying in is for guests,” Kristoff explains, seeming happy to talk about his home which Pietro has never properly visited before, though he lived in it once in another reality. _How strange my life is_. “This area is for permanent residents – the family apartments I suppose you would say.”

Pietro raises his eyebrows, “I am not exactly a permanent resident.”

Kristoff shrugs. “You will notice father does not say out loud the things he desires and instead leaves everyone around him to read between the lines.”

Pietro doesn’t exactly know what to say to that.

They stop outside a door, and Kristoff opens it for him. “This is your room. You may not want to stay here until the evening because I know you are restless, so if you wish you could explore the castle. I’m sure father would not mind, and if he does then I’m sure that would be even more motivation for you to do so.”

He feels guilty for being sharp with him earlier – Kristoff is not to blame for his father’s ambitions. “It was very good to see you again,” he tells his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I apologise for being angry, but your father has a way of just –”

“Of frustrating you to the point you wish to pull your own hair out? Yes – believe me – I know.”

He smiles. “Yes, I suppose you do.”

When Kristoff leaves him, Pietro turns back to his room. He had not noticed before but there is a lightning bolt carved into the wood of the door. Slowly he traces it with his finger. So this is his room… actually _his_ room. As in his soulmate has set aside a room for him in his home – who knows how long it has been here?

Inside, the layout is similar to Marya’s room. There is a large window, but the view is not of the gardens like Marya’s – presumably because Pietro’s room is located inside a different wing of the castle – instead the forest is visible. He too has a four-poster bed. The sheets are soft and green and the hangings silver. _Subtle_ , he thinks, sardonically.

He notices that there is a desk and sees that there is a vase of flowers – the same flowers Victor sent to his apartment. Briefly he wishes it was dark outside so he could see them flower again, but then that thought angers him. _I cannot forgive Victor so easily – I will not be won over with stupid flowers and a comfortable room!_

Pietro decides he will take his son’s advice and explore the castle. He exits his room, closing the door softly and looks down the stretching hallway. Straight away he notices that there is a door close to his own, and he moves towards it.

Where his door had a lightning bolt, this door has a crescent moon carved into it.

_Luna._

He pushes open the door and steps inside.

The first thing he notices is the ceiling. The lights are all off and the curtains are closed so the room is shrouded in darkness which makes the ceiling _twinkle_. In fact you can barely tell there is a ceiling at all because it just looks like the night sky. He feels the urge to touch it, to see if it is actually solid and not just open to the elements because that’s the illusion it creates. He supposes that is what it must be – some kind of illusion… some kind of magic.

Tearing his eyes away from the night sky, he looks around the rest of the room. There is a bed that is entirely too large for his daughter, but he is sure she would love it – she is a princess, after all. He feels a sudden wave of longing overcome him, and he sits listlessly on the soft covers which are made of some sort of shimmering silver thread.

_Luna will never see this room, and not just because Victor and I aren’t actually together… but because I betrayed Crystal’s trust and stole her away and exposed her to something that could have killed her. She would be well within her rights to never let me see our daughter again._

“You are thinking of your daughter?” A voice asks from the doorway, making Pietro’s heart flinch in surprise.

It is Victor, because _of course_ it is.

“It is hard not to think about her when I am sitting in a room designed for her,” Pietro says, levelling a glare at his soulmate. “You know most normal people would ask permission before building a room in their home for someone else’s child.”

“I would hope that I have never given you the impression that I am _most normal people_ ,” Victor says the last part with a particular inflection. “And it is only fair that Luna have a place here, the way my own son has in your home.”

Pietro looks around at the room with a sort of heavy feeling in his chest. He runs a hand along the silver sheets. “I fear you may have wasted your time, then. I do not think it is likely she will ever see this room – or me, for that matter – for a very long time.”

“You think that Crystalia will forbid her from visiting you?”

Pietro closes his eyes. “I would deserve it.”

His soulmate does not reply for several moments. Then, “Even if Crystalia does decide that you may never see Luna again,” he says, slowly. “There will be ways to bend the rules, there always are.”

He looks up, astonished. “I am not kidnapping my daughter, Victor! That’s what got me into this mess in the first place!”

“I was not speaking of abduction,” Victor corrects. “I merely meant that there are other non-physical methods of communication.”

“Oh,” Pietro says, realising. “You mean like… like how you are able to reach me in my dreams?”

“Indeed.”

“But that was sorcery I can’t – I mean I’m not,” Pietro struggles to find the words. “I am not my sister.”

Victor looks at him as if he is stupid, “Did you think Wanda was the only one of you both to have magical tendencies? You were both born on Wundagore Mountain ergo both of you were exposed to Chthon’s power. And even if you were not, sorcery is a skill like any other – you could learn. That is, I would teach you.”

He is surprised. “You would?” And then he thinks _stop it, you are playing straight into his hands._ “Then again, I hope you are not going to use _me_ to unleash a force that cannot be controlled which will then possess me and force me to commit terrible crimes which people will then want to kill me for.”

Victor sighs. “Pietro I –”

“No, do not force out a false apology,” he says. “I would not want to inconvenience you in such a way. I will be satisfied if you keep your word and help my sister restore mutantkind and then rid her of the parasitic power you cursed her with. Then, I will consider whether to forgive you or not. But rest assured that if you manipulate my sister in such a way ever again I will truly give up on you once and for all.”

“Then you needn’t fear,” Victor replies. “I have no intention of breaking my word.” Then he pauses, before saying, “As of late I have… _reassessed_ my priorities. I have never considered a life outside of the one I have forged for myself in steel and fire… I am beginning to see that I have… other options – ones that I dismissed too easily in the past.”

“I do not know why you phrase it in such a way,” Pietro says, mildly, “I know you are speaking about me; you needn’t be so cryptic.” He laughs, “ _other options_ – should I be jealous? Do you have other soulmates?”

“You are entirely too full of yourself for someone who is generally quite self-loathing,” Victor observes.

Pietro smiles. “I have cause to be, this time. I do not think it is a common occurrence for Doctor Doom to admit he is wrong, and that he is actually quite fond of his soulmate – though of course he would not say this aloud.”

“Of course not,” Victor agrees, “that would be entirely too damaging for my image.”

That causes Pietro to pause. He does not know how to bring it up, but he knows he has to address it sooner or later. “Kristoff mentioned in passing once,” he starts, cautiously, “that he has never seen your face before.”

Victor’s posture stiffens when before it was almost relaxed. “What about it?”

“I do not want to be the type of person who issues ultimatums,” Pietro says, “but surely you must acknowledge that living like that – hidden away from the people closest to you – is not a healthy way to live… for them _or_ for you.”

“So you wish for me to discard it? Throw it away? It is… it is not that easy.”

“Of course not,” he says, placatingly, “and I do not mean on a wider scale – I mean between us, or between you and Kristoff.”

“I will… consider it.”

Pietro supposes that is the best he is going to get. He stands up. “Come then – show me the rest of this castle.”

***

When evening falls, Victor leads Pietro back through the maze of hallways and rooms of the castle and into a fairly open room. The others are already waiting when they arrive, and Pietro ignores the puzzled look his sister shoots him.

“Before we begin,” Victor announces, “I have… a stipulation, if you will.”

Jean tenses beside Wanda, as if she thinks this is where Victor will say he is actually going to kill them all which he supposes isn’t an unfound worry. Wanda merely gestures for Victor to continue, though.

“I would have it that Magneto not be given back his powers.”

Pietro blinks in surprise. He hadn’t expected that at all. Going by the faces of everyone else in the room, they hadn’t expected it either.

“Why?” Jean asks, suspiciously.

“In the reality Wanda created,” Victor starts, “perhaps you will recall that Magneto murdered your brother-in-law – my soulmate – with those powers that would now be returned to him. I would much prefer that not to happen. Frankly in any other situation I would simply kill him myself and be done with it but alas Pietro is not fond of my particular brand of justice – this is the next best solution.”

Pietro avoids Jean’s gaze who seems pleasantly surprised with Victor’s reasoning. “I suppose it is only a bonus that without his powers Magneto will never be able to oppose you again.” She says.

“I cannot say it did not cross my mind.”

Wanda is also staring at him, and Pietro shifts under her gaze because he has no idea what she is thinking. Finally she says, “I too have not so easily forgotten my father’s crimes and so I accept your condition. Perhaps a life without his abilities will teach my father humility.” 

With that sorted, Victor, Wanda and William gather in the centre of the room and join hands. They do not even speak – there are no words or incantations – just pure _power_. It rolls off them all in red waves – it is very clearly Wanda’s magic. All three of them are completely absorbed, their eyes blazing with so much energy that the iris is not visible. After several moments they start to levitate slightly, and the waves of power rolling off them only increase.

Pietro glances at the others in the room. Jean watches her wife and son with fevered eyes, twisting her hands together anxiously. Thomas does not look particularly worried, though observes his mother and brother intently. Kristoff is the calmest of them all – he is perhaps the only one in the room bar the three participating that understands exactly what is happening.

The room bursts into scarlet light that falls over everything like snow before vanishing. And just like that, it is over.

Thomas frowns. “How will we know if it worked?”

Wanda – who is leaning on her wife looking completely exhausted – says that although she does not know if the spell to restore the mutants worked, the Life Force is certainly gone from her. Victor and William voice their agreement on that front.

After a few moments, Jean tells them it worked. “I can feel it – their confusion and their joy,” she tells them all, smiling. “It worked, it actually worked.”

Pietro wonders if _he_ should feel any different. After all his powers are only working due to his exposure to the mists. He doesn’t feel any different, but he can’t be sure really.

Victor turns to Wanda. “You and young William are rightfully exhausted – I will teleport you all home so you may rest.”

Thomas perks up at that – clearly he had not been looking forward to another long plane ride home.

“Thank you,” Wanda says, gratefully. She turns to Pietro, “Come, you can stay at ours tonight too.”

He glances at his soulmate who like a child is resolutely not meeting his eyes – Victor’s _actual_ child does, though. Kristoff is looking at him hopefully, encouragingly, even.

 _I am so very tired of being alone_ , he thinks. _What do I have waiting for me in New York? Wanda and Jean have each other and now they have their sons back too. Luna is a million miles away from me. Kristoff is here, even my mother is here for the moment… and so is Victor._

 _I want to try,_ he thinks, _I want to try and be happy_ _and for once it seems as if Victor is willing to try too._

“Actually,” he says, his mind made up. “I am going to stay here, for the time being.”

Wanda looks at him in surprise. A few emotions cross her face that Pietro cannot name. But finally she settles on looking slightly resigned. “As long as you are sure,” she says.

“I am.”

After they have all left, it is just Pietro, Victor and Kristoff. His son moves quickly across the room and launches himself at Pietro in a hug. “I am so very glad you are staying,” Kristoff mumbles into his side. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

 _Probably not as long as I have been waiting_ , he thinks to himself.

He squeezes Kristoff tightly in acknowledgement, before pulling back. He rests his chin in Kristoff’s hair so that he can see Victor watching them both. With one arm still around his… _their_ son, Pietro uses his other arm to gesture for his soulmate to join them.

Victor approaches the two of them cautiously as if he is worried that Kristoff might launch himself at him next. Nevertheless, he moves towards them until he is close enough for Pietro to reach. He does just that, reaching out with his free arm so that the palm of his hand rests on the cool metal of his mask. “Can I take this off?” he murmurs, and he feels Kristoff’s head turn slightly up in shock. “Is that okay?”

Stiffly, he feels Victor nod.

Slowly he unlatches the metal faceplate from the rest of the armour. Absent-mindedly he wonders how he knows _how_ to unlatch it, but he chalks that up to memories from the other reality. When it is detached, he simply throws it on the floor where it lands with a loud _clang_. _Hm_ , he thinks, pleased, _that’s where it belongs._

Victor’s face is not like it was in the other reality – it is scarred and twisted the way Pietro remembers it from their first meeting many years ago.

His soulmate’s head is turned to the side slightly – so he can avoid Pietro’s gaze.

“You never answered my question,” Pietro realises suddenly.

“What question?” Victor still avoids his eyes.

“When we first met you showed me your face and I asked if you were in pain, but you did not answer.”

“Sometimes,” Victor replies, his voice slightly hoarse. “Not always.”

“Now?” He checks.

“No, not now.”

Pietro smiles. “Good,” he says as he gently turns Victor’s head towards him and brings their lips together in a kiss.


End file.
